Mongolia's coal exports surge over 73% YoY in January

Compared with January last year, the country's exports of all coal types last month reported robust growth. For bituminous coal, the shipments rose 92% to 9.22 million tonnes, while those of anthracite more than tripled to 59,506 tonnes. Exports of other coal also climbed 7.3% to 417,027 tonnes, the data show.

In contrast, Mongolia's exports of lignite dropped by a large 33% on year to 421,085 tonnes in January, according to the breakdown data.

The total January tonnage however, was 7.4% lower than the 10.93 million tonnes the country shipped last December, but this probably shouldn't surprise, given that the volume that month had reached an all-time record high. China remained the sole destination for Mongolian coal exports last month, according to the Customs data.

Improved sentiment in China's coking coal market last month might have lifted the buying interest in Mongolian coal among Chinese importers, Mysteel Global noted.

On January 7, rumours circulated in the market that Northwest China's Shaanxi province had decided to cancel 19 million tonnes/year of coal production capacity from 26 local mines, as reported. Although the news later proved inaccurate, concerns about tighter coal supplies from the country's third-largest coal producing region last year still helped shore up coal prices, including those for Mongolian coal.

At Ganqimaodu port in North China's Inner Mongolia – the largest conduit for Mongolian coal entering China – the price for Mongolian 5# raw coal, on an ex-stock basis and including the 13% VAT had jumped by Yuan 117/tonne ($16.9/t) from January 6 to Yuan 1,070/t as of January 14, the highest level in about two months.

The price, however, softened later in the month and ended at Yuan 1,024/t on January 30 following the heavy inventory pressures at the border port amid robust imports, Mysteel Global observed.

Compared to early January, Mongolian coal inventories at Ganqimaodu in bonded warehouses operated by China Customs had climbed 4.2% to 3.95 million tonnes as of February 1, according to Mysteel's tracking data.

Meanwhile, the clearance of Mongolian coal at Ganqimaodu so far this year had exceeded 6 million tonnes by February 11, some 23 days earlier than last year, the data showed, as Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations started earlier last year on January 29 and disrupted clearance during the break, Mysteel Global notes. This year's CNY will commence on February 15.

Written by Adrian Zhou, zhouwenhaoa@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com