Russian coal faces growing competition in Mediterranean

Russian thermal coal exports to the Mediterranean region fell by 13pc to 25.9mn t last year, reflecting increased competition with US coal, according to Global Trade Tracker (GTT) data.

The region's overall thermal coal imports fell by 2pc, mainly as a result of the drop in Russian and Colombian supply. Imports of US coal rose significantly.

Russian thermal coal exports to Turkey fell to 11.33mn t in 2018 from 13.45mn t in 2017 in the face of higher competition from lower-priced petroleum coke for cement producers. Turkey imports most of its petcoke from the US.

Russia remained Turkey's second-largest thermal coal supplier, but its market share fell to 30pc from 36pc in 2017.

Italy was the region's second-largest recipient of Russian thermal coal. But imports from Russia fell by 9pc to 5.7mn t, reflecting lower demand and increased supplies from the US, which rose by almost 28pc last year.

Morocco overtook Spain to become the region's third-largest importer of Russian thermal coal last year, receiving 3.88mn t, up by 11pc, on rising demand. But Russian coal's share of Morocco's thermal coal imports fell to 46pc from 51pc in 2017, with the US replacing Russia as the largest supplier, boosting deliveries by 60pc from 2017.

Find more news, price information and market analysis on Russian coal exports in the Argus Russian Coal report.