Indian coal imports from South Africa slump

Tuesday, 10 Jan 2012

According to Mjunction Services Ltd, India’s imports of coal from South Africa fell in the first 11 months of 2011, while China almost doubled purchases.

India Coal Market Watch, a unit of Mjunction said that India bought 14.39 million tonnes of the fuel from South Africa, down 24% from 18.96 million in the same period a year earlier. Purchases in November fell 21% from the previous year to 1.29 million tonnes.

South Africa’s shipments to China, the world’s biggest coal consumer, rose 88 percent to 12.26 million tons in the first 11 months of 2011, India Coal said in the note. November sales increased more than threefold to 2.84 million.

India’s imports accounted for 25% of the 57.4 million tonnes from South Africa through November last year. According to Bloomberg calculations based on data from Mjunction and the Richards Bay Coal Terminal website. China accounted for 21% of the shipments.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)

Shandong ports coal imports down 9.5 pct in Jan

Feb 25, 2011

Coal imports at ports of Shandong province of East China fell 9.5 percent on year to 2.04 million tonnes in Jan, the Ministry of Commerce announced on Feb 24.

The imports was a slip of 3.1 percent from last month, showed statistics issued by the Qingdao Customs.

Coal imported from Indonesia fell 24.1 percent on year to 504,000 tonnes, from Australia plunged 64.3 percent to 439,000 tonnes, and from the U.S at 409,000 tonnes as compared with no imports in last Jan, showed statistics.

The import price averaged US$142.3 a tonne, a monthly high since July 2008.

Meanwhile, coking coal imported at these ports amounted to 972,000 tonnes, accounting for 47.5 percent of the total imports, and anthracite to 414,000 tonnes.
(sourced:en.sxcoal.com)