Japan’s coking coal imports fall in September

Japan's coking coal imports fell in September even with a gradual recovery in the country's manufacturing activity.

Japan imported 4.79mn t of coking coal in September, down by 1pc from August and down by 8pc from a year earlier, according to finance ministry data. January-August imports fell by 8pc from a year earlier to 47.1mn t.

Shipments from Japan's largest supplier Australia increased by 2pc to 2.29mn t in September from 2.25mn t in August and also by 5pc from a year earlier. Japan's crude steel output rebounded with a recovery in manufacturing, particularly in the auto sector. Rising steel demand in the country prompted domestic steel mill JFE Steel to restart its blast furnace in September, after being shut for about three months because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Argus spot price assessment for premium low-volatile hard coking coal averaged $121.92/t fob Australia in September, up by 14pc from $106.80/t in August.

Japan's metallurgical coke imports rose by 216pc to 23,992t in September from 7,604t in August and fell by 35pc from a year earlier. Almost all of Japan's met coke imports came from China.

By Parvin Chong

Japan coking coal imports (&#39;000t) Sep &#39;20 Sep &#39;19 % &#177; Jan-Sep 2020 Jan-Sep 2019 % &#177; Australia 2,287 2,189 +5 21,548 23,736 -9 Russia 321 436 -26 3,278 3,225 +2 Canada 362 611 -41 4,744 4,611 +3 US 553 784 -29 5,577 6,746 -17 Indonesia 1,024 1,089 -6 10,634 10,781 -1 Colombia 91 72 +28 542 851 -36 Others 150 26 +477 806 1,060 -24 Total 4,789 5,205 -8 47,130 51,012 -8 Source: finance ministry

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