With European sanctions on Russian coal, Asia and Turkey are becoming direct beneficiaries of what is happening, highlighting the change in trade flows in global thermal coal markets six months after the start of the war in Ukraine, S&P Global Platts noted.
S&P Global Commodities at Sea's semi-annual data analysis shows that as Russian coal is offered at a discount compared to Australian and South African origin in the absence of buyers from Europe, countries such as China and India are capitalizing on the situation .
Since the start of the NWO in February, China's imports of Russian coal have steadily grown. From 0.9 million tons in March, imports rose to 5.3 million tons in July and 4.6 million tons in August. Meanwhile, India's imports have also increased from 0.7 million tons in March to 2.3 million tons in August so far.
For comparison, China imported an average of 2.8 million tons between March and August last year, while India averaged 0.4 million tons over the same period, according to S&P Global.
Shipments from Indonesia, the world's largest exporter, are down 26% year-on-year to mainland China to 78 million tonnes in the first seven months of 2022.
At the same time, Indonesian coal shipments to India accounted for 30% of total exports between January and July, compared to 20% a year ago. The increase in supplies from Indonesia coincided with the reduction of India's coal imports from South Africa.
South Korea's imports of Russian coal have remained virtually unchanged, and have increased slightly over the past six months, despite its obligations to stop imports from the former.
According to Platts Analytics, due to growing coal stocks and the flexibility of power plants to decide whether to use imported coal for power generation, thermal coal imports are expected to decline in August from their June high.
Over time, the prices of some coal grades and origins have corrected from record highs, but market participants believe that the market is still far from stable.
