Australian met coal exports slip back in October

Australian metallurgical coal exports fell by 10pc in October compared with September, as Chinese import restrictions were tightened and exports to India, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam eased after a strong September.

Combined hard, pulverised coal injection (PCI) and semi-soft coking coal shipments fell to 13.65mn t in October from 14.61mn t in September and from 14.57mn t in October 2019. This was the least shipped from Australia since a storm-affected 11.7mn t in February 2019 and compares with a high of 19.16mn t in June 2019, according to the latest trade data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Australian hard coking coal exports fell in October on both comparisons but were higher than July and August. January-October exports were down by 5pc on 2019, reversing an increase of 5pc for January-April this year.

Initial shipping data suggests that coking coal shipments fell further in November, with the BHP Mitsubishi Alliance coking coal port of Hay Point in Queensland having a particularly slow month.

China in October took 15pc less hard coking coal than in September and 45pc less than a year earlier. Its January-October intake is still up by 18pc on 2019 and only 1mn t behind all of 2019. India, Japan and Taiwan are all more than 10pc behind for January-October because of Covid-19 lockdowns and their slow economic recovery. The increased buying in September as blast furnaces came back on line outside of China slowed in October.

The average export price for Australian hard coking coal was $128.23/t in October, down from $122.29/t in September, according to the ABS. The October price is based on the Australian/US dollar exchange rate of $0.7498 used by the ABS for the month.

The Argus premium low-volatile hard coking coal price averaged $122.46/t fob Australia in October, up from $121.92/t in September but down from $143.89/t in October 2019.

Australian semi-soft coking coal and PCI shipments fell to 4.06mn t in October from 4.66mn t in September and 4.14mn t in October 2019.

Japan was the largest customer of semi-soft coking coal and PCI in October, a role India held in September. China and Japan have both bought considerably less of this lower grade coal during January-October compared with a year earlier, which has been partially offset by stronger exports to South Korea and Vietnam.

The average export price for semi-soft coking coal and PCI in October was $92.48/t, down from $92.93/t in September, according to the ABS. The Argus semi-soft mid-volatile price averaged $73.93/t fob Australia in October, up from $71.20/t in September but down from $92.50/t in October 2019.

By Jo Clarke