Australia’s Gladstone coal exports at record low in Feb

Thermal and metallurgical coal exports from Australia's 102mn t/yr Gladstone port halved in February compared to January and were the lowest in over a decade, following a derailment that disrupted deliveries.

Gladstone shipped 2.8mn t of coal in February, down from 5.68mn t in January and from 4.84mn t in February 2022, according to Gladstone Ports (GPC) data.

This was the weakest shipping month in more than a decade, following a derailment outside the port on 29 January that interrupted coal deliveries. Deliveries restarted on 11 February, but the port has not been able to clear the backlog of ships waiting to be loaded. There were 34 ships queueing outside Gladstone on 6 March, up from 30 on 6 February and above a more average queue of 23 on 2 February.

There are also long queues outside the adjacent ports of Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point, with 52 ships at anchor on 6 March, up from 50 a month ago and 37 on 16 January. Abbot Point has cut its queue to three from 11 a month ago.

There were no shipments of coal to China from Gladstone in February, following two shipments in January as Beijing reopens for Australian coal imports. Shipments to most destinations were at multi-year lows, in line with the depressed total output.

February was drier than average across most Queensland coal fields, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM). The BoM expects the La Nina weather pattern, which often brings above-average rain to Queensland's coal fields, to ease towards neutral over the next few weeks. It forecasts drier than average weather across most of the country for March-May, which could allow mining firms to increase production.

Argus assessed high-grade 6,000 kcal/kg NAR thermal coal at $191.45/t fob Newcastle on 3 March, down from $249.79/t on 3 February and from a peak of $444.59/t on 9 September. It assessed the premium hard low-volatile metallurgical coal price at $365.55/t fob Australia on 3 March, up from $350.25/t on 3 February and from a recent low of $244.75/t on 24 November. Other grades of metallurgical coal have tracked up, but the premium for the highest grade material has widened in the past couple of weeks.

By Jo Clarke

Gladstone coal shipments mn t Month Japan India South Korea Taiwan Vietnam Total Feb &#39;23 0.79 0.40 0.80 0.18 0.17 2.80 Jan &#39;23 2.06 1.12 1.41 0.26 0.25 5.68 Feb &#39;22 1.64 1.37 1.27 0.13 0.22 4.84 YTD 2023 2.84 1.52 2.20 0.44 0.41 8.49 YTD 2022 3.52 2.33 2.50 0.32 0.42 10.27 Monthly average for 2022 1.83 1.01 1.18 0.38 0.24 5.17 Monthly average for 2021 1.77 1.58 1.18 0.31 0.23 5.75 Source: GPCL Total includes all destinations, not just those listed Australian coal price comparisons ($/t)

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