China’s coal imports fell 6 percent year on year in September to 43.37 million tonnes, according to customs data released on Wednesday, although the total was up from 42.09 million tonnes in August. Imports for the first nine months rose 2.2 percent to 353.54 million tonnes, and the September import bill was $4.54 billion, an average of $104.75 a tonne, up sharply on a year earlier.
Fitch Ratings analysts cited in the Reuters report attributed the softer demand to inventories at coastal power generators running higher than in previous years after a relatively cool summer cut cooling demand. China’s fossil fuelled power generation fell 4.3 percent year on year in August, the latest statistics bureau data, as hydro, nuclear and renewable output took share.
On the supply side, Indonesia, China’s top supplier, is shipping less. Production plan approvals under the RKAB quota system have tightened export availability, and low river water levels in Kalimantan have disrupted barge logistics. The June and July import surge, when buyers turned offshore after safety inspections followed the May Liushenyu mine accident in Shanxi, has now faded from the monthly run rate.
The combination is unusual: falling import volumes alongside benchmark thermal coal prices at their highest in about three years. For seaborne exporters in Indonesia and Australia, volume growth into China now depends less on Chinese demand growth and more on Indonesian quota policy and domestic Chinese mine restarts.