Chinese thermal coal import growth slows in 2013: customs data

摘要

London—Annual growth in Chinese thermal coal imports slowed quite dramatically in 2013, with the country taking delivery of 152.33 million mt of bituminous and sub-bituminous thermal coal, up just 3.6% year-onyear, according to China customs statistics released Wednesday. The previous year, China’s annual thermal imports had surged by 42.8% year-on-year. The country’s combined bituminous and sub-bituminous imports in December were 16.45 million mt, up 28.1% on November but 9.3% lower than a year earlier. Monthly volumes of Indonesian sub-bituminous coal landing in China — which plummeted to 1.74 million mt in June — continued to recover, with 2.96 million mt arriving in December, a year-to-date high and up 49% month on month.