Japan’s November coking coal imports rise from October

Japan's coking coal imports rose in November on stronger Australian and US shipments even as Japanese steel output remained under pressure.

Japan imported 5.4mn t of coking coal in November, up by 6pc from October but down by 3pc from a year earlier, according to finance ministry data. January-November imports inched up by 1pc from a year earlier to 58.27mn t.

US shipments nearly doubled on the month to 439,810t in November, despite being 10pc lower from a year earlier. Shipments from the largest supplier Australia increased by 32pc to 3.19mn t in November from October's 2.41mn t and up by 6pc from a year earlier. But Indonesia arrivals fell by 41pc from a month earlier to 865,956t after heavy rainfall across Indonesia's main coal-producing region of Kalimantan resulted in production and logistics disruptions. Japan's November crude steel production losses occurred as a shortage of parts continued to pose weigh on domestic carmakers.

Seaborne coking coal prices ended November at $317/t fob on tepid buying interest in major consumer regions, a decline of $86.25/t or 21pc from October. The Argus spot price assessment for premium low-volatile hard coking coal averaged $370/t fob Australia in November, down by 7pc from $397.63/t in October.

Japan's metallurgical coke imports surged to 235,437t in November from October's three-month low of 146,064t. November imports were an increase of 61pc from October and a sevenfold increase from a year earlier. Almost all of Japan's met coke imports came from China.

By Parvin Chong

Japan&#39;s coking coal imports &#39;000s Origin Nov-21 Nov-20 &#177; % Jan-Nov 2021 Jan-Nov 2020 &#177; % Australia 3,186.2 2,997.2 +6 31,863.2 27,383.4 +16 Russia 295.2 290.5 +2 3,476.4 3,877.2 -10.0 Canada 510.8 720.1 -29.0 4,926.6 5,980.6 -18.0 US 439.8 490.2 -10.0 5,188.8 6,323.3 -18.0 Indonesia 866.0 956.3 -9.0 11,272.4 12,479.6 -10.0 Colombia 59.6 55.0 +8 724.7 709.7 +2 Others 0.0 71.9 -100.0 323.1 910.7 -65.0 Total 5,401.7 5,581.2 -3.0 58,268.6 57,664.6 +1 Source: Japan&#39;s finance ministry

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