Asia’s coal markets tighten
SINGAPORE: Port disruptions in Indonesia and a cyclone hitting mines in Australia have tightened Asia’s coal markets in March, while demand in China and other key import markets remain strong, lifting prices.
Prompt thermal coal cargo prices for export from Australia’s Newcastle Port have risen by more than 11 percent since March 10, partly reversing a steep decline since last November.
The jump in prices has been driven mainly by an Indonesian government graft probe at ports in its East Kalimantan province, which is one of the world’s most important thermal coal export hubs.
The probes have disrupted ship loadings around the port of Samarinda, where 38 large drybulk ships are currently sitting idle to take on coal, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon’s shipping data, with some vessels waiting for a month.
Most ships are unable to berth at the port and are being forced to take on coal via a small number of loading vessels.
“The situation there is bad. Ships rely on just a couple of seaborne loading vessels to do the job of the entire port,” one coal shipper affected by the situation said, asking not to be named as he was not authorized to speak to media.
The delays come as demand remains strong in China, by far the world’s biggest coal consumer, after a crackdown on mining led to a 1.7 percent year-on-year drop in domestic output in the first two months of the year.
A cyclone this week in northeast Australia, China’s biggest coal supplier, added to concerns over tight supplies.
The higher Asian prices have led to a pickup in shipments from the US and Colombia as traders take advantage of cheap Atlantic basin coal, with prices dipping due to an unusually mild start to the low demand spring season.
The Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp (ARA) benchmark has fallen by over 5 percent since March 10, putting it an $8.40 per ton discount to Australia’s Newcastle price of about $80.90.
Five South Korean utilities jointly bought a total of 1.5 million tons of coal from the US to arrive from the third quarter, a spokesman for one utility said this week, marking one of the largest US coal shipments to Korea on record, according to Eikon data.
Eikon data also shows an increase in Colombian coal exports to Asia, with shipments to its top buyers Japan, China and South Korea totaling almost 1 million tons in March, the highest level in a year.