Before restrictions were imposed in 2020, China bought over 30 million tons of coking coal from Australia, accounting for around 40% of the country's total imports.
Australia is among China's largest supplier of commodities. It accounted for more than one fifth of China's thermal coal imports before the trade restrictions were imposed. For iron ore, it remained the largest supplier for China even when relations soured.
Coalfields. China produces most of the thermal coal (both black and brown coal) it burns, but imports coking coal to make high quality steel. Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi are the main coal-producing provinces, and most coal is found in the north and northwest of the country.
China's coking coal imports from Australia are expected to reach 8 million-10 million mt in 2023, analysts said, around 28 million-30 million mt less than in 2020 before the trade was halted.
The total of 207,236 tonnes was a fraction of the 92 million tonnes of coal Australia exported to China in 2019, but analysts said they expected volumes to increase, now that the unofficial ban designed to punish the former Morrison government had been abolished.
China Buys More Australia Coal at Highest Level Since Ban - Bloomberg.
After the Bloomberg report, Australian coal mining stocks, including Yancoal and New Hope, reduced their losses. China was a significant consumer of Australian coal until a non-official ban was imposed due to heightened political tensions between the two countries.
China has removed all remaining curbs on Australian coal imports, putting an end to trade restrictions that have been in place since 2020.
This marked an end of a ban on Australian coal imports that lasted for more than two years. Some analysts contended that this decision was driven by China's domestic energy supply pressure. Some suggested that it was promoted by Australia to offset the impact of declining iron ore prices on its export revenue.
In 2021, Indonesia and Russia became China's biggest coal suppliers. If trade does pick up again, it would likely have implications for those countries whose exports filled the gap Australia left in China's coal imports. In 2021, Indonesia and Russia became the biggest suppliers of coal to China.
Beijing imposed an unofficial ban on coal trade with Canberra in 2020.
China has traditionally purchased nearly all of its coal supplies from producers within Asia, but that changed last year when it stopped buying from Australia amid a political dispute between the once-close trading partners, leading to sporadic shortages.
Australia is currently the fifth largest producer and the second largest exporter of coal and has the third largest reserves of coal in the world.
Japan is now the destination for 35.1% of Australia's coal exports, with India 15.8%, Korea 14.1%, Taiwan 9.2% and the EU at 7.7%”, the shipbroker concluded.
The Australian economy continues to rely on coal as a source of affordable, reliable electricity. Coal supplied 69 per cent of electricity to the National Electricity Market in 2019, while gas supplied 9 per cent, hydro 7 per cent and other renewable energy (wind, solar farms and solar PV), 16 per cent.
China is Australia's largest two-way trading partner in goods and services, accounting for nearly one third (32.2 per cent) of our trade with the world.
Australia possesses 10% of global recoverable black coal resources, sufficient for around 125 years' production at current rates. About 87% of coal production is exported; of the remaining coal used domestically, 88% is used for power generation nationally.
China is in no rush to buy thermal coal from Australia even after lifting the import ban, as the former still has enough options globally to meet its requirements, particularly for medium calorific value fuel, a senior analyst from the International Energy Agency told S&P Global Commodity Insights.
China had been the biggest buyer of Australian cotton, taking about 60% of its supplies, worth about A$900 million during the 2018/19 crop year. Five of Australia's largest beef processors were also suspended from exporting to China in 2020 for reasons such as poor labelling and contamination with a banned substance.
Column: China's easing of Australian coal ban is symbolic, not market-shifting. LAUNCESTON, Australia, Jan 9 (Reuters) - China's decision to allow imports of Australian coal after more than two years of an unofficial ban is one of those moves where the symbolic importance outweighs the practical impact.
The pressure to increase production rapidly led to new issues, however. First, the expansion of domestic coal supply has increased costs. The producer price index (PPI) for coal mining and washing increased 45% in 2021 and 17% in 2022. This obviously put upward pressure on domestic prices.
Australia, with around 70% of its coal production being exported, is the world's largest exporter of coal.
India has emerged as one of the highest global importers of coking coal (and pulverised coal injection) at 69 million tonnes (mt), accounting for 22 per cent of the world's shipments in the calendar year 2022, as per data collated by market research firm CoalMint.
Today, Australia is a coal giant, the world's largest exporter of coking coal and second-largest of thermal coal.