Australia’s Gladstone ships more coal to Poland

Thermal and metallurgical coal exports from Australia's 102mn t/yr Gladstone port in Queensland hit an 11-month high in June, with shipments sent to Poland for the second month in a row after an eight-year hiatus.

Gladstone shipped 6.17mn t of coal in June, up from 5.26mn t in May, but down from 6.68mn t in June 2021, according to data from Gladstone Ports (GPC). This was the first month since August that Gladstone shipped more than 6mn t/month of coal, as a slightly drier month allowed mines to boost output after one of the wettest periods in history for the east coast of Australia. July has started off with heavy rainfall again and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting wetter weather through winter and spring, with a new La Nina weather pattern likely to bring more wet weather beyond that.

Gladstone shipped 76,400t of coal to Poland in June, adding to the 96,000t it shipped in May, which was first time it has shipped any coal there since May 2014. It also shipped 193,000t to the Netherlands and 40,000t to Turkey in June, as Australia is increasing coal exports towards Europe in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Strong winds have forced ships off anchorage at the New South Wales coal ports of Newcastle and Port Kembla, but ships are remaining at anchorage at Gladstone, Mackay and Abbot Point. The ship queue waiting outside of Gladstone stood at 20 on 6 July, down from 25 on 6 June and in line with the average ship queue.

Japan took 24pc of all coal shipped from Gladstone in May, South Korea took 28pc and India, 22pc. This is the lowest proportion of shipments sent to Japan since July 2021. But the proportion of shipments to India in June rebounded from a seven-year low of 14pc in May. There were no coal shipments from Gladstone to China for the 20th month in a row.

Thermal coal prices have remained close to record highs, but metallurgical coal prices have roughly halved from record highs seen in March.

Argus last assessed high-grade 6,000 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal at $383.82/t fob Newcastle on 1 July, down from a peak of $425.90/t on 20 May but up from $128.77/t a year earlier. It assessed the premium hard low-volatile metallurgical coal price at $301/t fob Australia on 1 July, down from $664/t on 15 March, but up from $199.35/t on 5 July 2021.

Argus last assessed the premium hard low-volatile coking coal price at $296/t fob Australia on 5 July, down from $433/t on 1 June and from a peak of $662.35/t on 14 March.

By Jo Clarke

Australian thermal coal prices $/t

Australian metallurgical coal prices $/t