Australia shipped more coal to China than Japan in April, the first time this has happened in any month in more than four years, underscoring shifting market dynamics and an improved political relationship with Beijing.
Australia’s coal exports to China have been recovering since February last year when the world’s biggest buyer of the polluting fuel ended an informal ban on imports. The ban was never official, unlike some of China’s other actions against Australia, such as punitive tariffs on barley, wine and lobsters, but it still resulted in shipments effectively dropping to zero.
It could also be argued the ban on coal was a failure from a Chinese perspective, as it led to higher prices for all grades of thermal coal in Asia, while Australia was able to find other buyers, mainly India, for its exports. Exports to China hit a record high of 12.03 million tons in June 2020, just before the ban was imposed.
The bulk of Australia’s exports to India are metallurgical coal, which accounted for 1.52 million tons in April, or about 58% of the total.