Chinese Coal Imports Slide in October – Report
Reuters, citing to vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Refinitiv, reported that China's seaborne coal imports slumped 19% in October to 19.9 million tonnes in October, the lowest monthly total of seaborne arrivals since February, down from September's 24.5 million. Official customs data showed imports for the first nine months at 250.6 million tonnes, a gain of 9.5% over the same period in 2018. Add the October seaborne imports of 19.9 million tonnes, plus around 7 million tonnes more in overland arrivals from Mongolia and Russia, and it's likely that imports for the first 10 months of the year will be around 277 million tonnes. Even if imports for November and December are severely curbed, it's still likely that the 2019 total will exceed 300 million tonnes. Imports may even approach the annual record of 327.2 million tonnes from 2013.
The rise in imports has been accompanied by increasing domestic output, with production totalling 2.74 billion tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up 4.5% from the same period a year earlier.
The robust coal import and domestic output data show just how difficult it is for an economy the size of China to wean itself off the fuel.
Source : Strategic Research Institute