China coking coal imports down 25 per cent due to Australia, Mongolia ‘gap’ caused by unofficial ban, border closure

China imported 54.7 million tonnes of coking coal – an essential ingredient in the production of steel – last year, down by 24.6 per cent from 2020

China only started to allow Australian coking and thermal coal that had been stranded at its ports due to an unofficial ban to be imported in the final three months of 2021

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China imposed unofficial bans on the imports of a variety of Australian products- including coal, lobsters and log timers – in late 2020, after Canberra supported calls for an international investigation into China’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: AP

Published: 4:30am, 27 Jan 2022

China’s imports of coking coal plummeted in 2021, as the country strived to diversify its sources amid an unofficial ban on Australian coal and coronavirus pandemic-hit Mongolian imports, analysts said.

China imported 54.7 million tonnes of coking coal – an essential ingredient in the production of steel – last year, down by 24.6 per cent from 2020, according to official data.

“Even though demand for non-Australian seaborne coal imports was strong, it still could not make up for the gap left by Australian and Mongolian coal [imports],” said Jia Na, a coal analyst with the Shanxi-based Today Think Tank, on Monday.

Among the coking coal imports, 11.3 per cent or 6.17 million tonnes, was imported from Australia since October, when China started to allow Australian coal that had been stranded at its ports in the wake of Beijing’s import ban which started in October 2020.

Some 5.54 million tonnes of Australian thermal coal, which is used for power generation, was also imported in the final three months of last year when the country was faced with a power crunch due to a severe coal supply shortage.

Most of the Australian coal that was being held at Chinese ports has now been cleared, Jia added.

There is, though, no sign of a wholesale lifting of the unofficial coal ban that will allow new shipments from Australia, analysts said.