US coking coal exports rose in February as a result of delays to shipments from Australia, and despite lower exports to India and the EU.

 

Total US coking coal exports rose by 3.2pc year on year and by 1.9pc on the month to 3.74mn t in February, lifted by higher shipments to Brazil, Japan and China.

 

US Shipments to Brazil increased by 50pc from a year earlier to 758,367t in February, while exports to Japan increased by 40pc over the same period to 421,018t, as a train derailment and weather disruption constrained Australian deliveries. Australia's February exports fell by 16pc from a year earlier to 9.94mn t in February.

 

US exports to China totalled 439,924t in February, more than trebling compared with a year earlier.

 

Shipments from the US to the EU fell by 2.4pc on an annual basis and 27.9pc on a monthly basis to 951,164t in February, with demand under pressure from several months of low blast furnace output in Europe.

 

US suppliers shipped 501,338t to India in February, 39.5pc lower than in February last year, when exports were close to a three-year high. But US-India shipments were 8pc higher in February than in January.

 

US shipments to Turkey were 15.5pc lower than a year earlier but the highest in five months at 235,387t, as Turkish mills restocked strongly following the the government's initial announcement that 4mn t of steel would be required over three to four months for post-earthquake reconstruction work. This has since proved to be a significant over-estimate of demand. Shipments to Turkey have been subdued in recent months as a result of the availability of discounted Russian material, with no US-Turkey shipments in December or January.

 

Canadian exports slipped by 2.3pc from a year earlier but were 5.3pc higher than January at 2.31mn t, with higher shipments to China partially offsetting lower shipments to other major Asian buyers. Shipments to China increased by 70.2pc from a year earlier to 889,365t, but no cargoes were shipped to India from Canada in February. Shipments to South Korea fell by 5.5pc year on year to 468,674t in February, and shipments to Japan edged down by 1.1pc over the same period to 646,198t. argusmedia