Rising coking coal exports pressure Colombian ports

Higher global demand for Colombian coking coal and metallurgical coke is pushing the country's ports to capacity and driving developments on the Pacific coast to target new customers.

The Caribbean port of Barranquilla, which handles most of Colombia's met coke exports, currently has a 9.2m vessel draught restriction in place, with sediment build-up a long-standing issue at the port.

The restriction could affect met coke shipments, according to a market participant based at the port, although the impact largely depends on the particulars of each ship.

Barranquilla is currently loading met coke cargoes of around 25,000-30,000t, which should be able ot load without difficulty. But Argus estimates that any increase in tonnage would be likely to encounter problems without a deeper draught.

Barranquilla's met coke exports have limited scope to rise in the near-term, with an anticipated dredging of the Magdalena river unlikely to have much impact, the market participant said. "It all depends on exporters' capacity — right now they are oversold," he said. River regulator Cormagdalena expects the tender for the dredging project to be awarded by the end of this year.

Met coke stocks at Barranquilla are around 120,000t, and the port expects to export 1mn t in 2018.

The port, which largely ships met coke to Brazil, Turkey and India, has seen a shift in the balance of export destinations. Indian buyers are taking a larger share than previously, seeking stability of Colombian supply.

Market participants cite Colombian met coke prices in a $310-330/t fob range, with the upper end targeted at Brazil. The Argus daily fob north China assessment for 62 CSR met coke is at $380.70/t.

Aguadulce build-up targeting Japan, Turkey

On the Pacific coast, the Aguadulce terminal at Buenaventura port has been building up operations since its launch in March 2017, with facilities to load Panamax, Handymax and Supramax vessels.

Three Panamax vessels were loaded at Aguadulce in January-July, with coking coal loadings totalling 162,000t. The terminal will load its fourth vessel next week with around 71,000t, port operator Compas said.

Japan is currently the main destination for shipments from Buenaventura, with Turkey and South Korea also receiving some coal from the port. Coking coal exports from Aguadulce to Turkey could rise in the next year owing to strong demand, Compas said. Turkey took 45pc of the 1mn t of Colombian coking coal exported in January-June, according to government data.

Aguadulce is expected to export around 330,000t of coking coal and met coke in 2018, having previously loaded 110,000t in October-December 2017.