Gladstone Port handles more China-bound coal in March
One of the reasons behind the climb in coal shipments via Gladstone last month was fewer weather disruptions, Mysteel Global learned, as Australia's cyclone season – spanning the Southern Hemisphere's warm months from November to April – is drawing to an end.
Another factor was the increased attractiveness of Australian coal to foreign buyers during the month, a market watcher based in Shanghai suggested, highlighting the lower prices of Australian coking coal.
Indeed, the CFR China price of Australian premium low-volatile coking coal (A<10.5%, VM<21%, S<0.6%, MT<10%) under Mysteel's assessment stood at $263/wet tonne on March 29, down by $56/wet t from February, and $65.5/wet t lower when compared with the year-earlier level.
Significantly, coal exports from Gladstone to China in March surged by 96% on month to reach 1.38 million tonnes, accounting for 24.6% of the port's total throughput during the month, the data show. This was the largest amount of coal that Queensland coal producers had shipped through Gladstone to China since Beijing's ban on Australian coal was lifted in January last year, Mysteel Global noted. Meanwhile, the volume was higher by 50% from March 2023.
The large quantity also made China the second largest destination for ex-Gladstone coal after Japan last month. Japan ranked first by taking 2.23 million tonnes coal imports from Gladstone, a notable rise of 76.5% on month and 63.3% on year, according to GPC data.
Conversely, coal exports from the port to India and South Korea both tracked downwards in March. Indian's coal supplies from the port shrank by 18.3% on month to 892,000 tonnes, though it was basically flat from the same month last year. South Korea received only 412,000 tonnes of coal, down by 46.7% from the previous month and by 50% from March last year, the port data indicate.
The latest result meant that over January-March this year, Australia shipped about 15.7 million tonnes of coal to various regions worldwide through Gladstone, up 17.5% from the comparable months last year.
Among all the destinations, Japan ranked first with 5.36 million tonnes of coal, followed by India (2.78 million tonnes) and China (2.34 million tonnes), according to the data.
Gladstone port is Queensland's largest multi-commodity port and handles 42 coal types across 84 stockpile zones. Most of the coal it handles is coking coal, Mysteel Global learned from its official site.
Written by Irene Zhuang, zhuangailing@mysteel.com
Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com
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