China continues to ban Australian coal imports
According to the latest data from the Australian Gladstone Ports Corporation, in February 2021, coal exports from the port of Gladstone fell for three consecutive months, and coal exports to China fell to zero for four consecutive months. This is the first market phenomenon in more than 20 years since 2000.
Australia's thermal coal exports fell 13.2 percent in January compared to the same period last year.
According to the Australian Statistics Office, Australia's thermal coal exports fell to 15.77 million tonnes in January 2021, down 12.7% from 18.07 million tonnes in December and 13.2% from 18.16 million tonnes in the same period last year.
The number of vehicles for customs clearance at Gantsmod and Sekhe ports has increased dramatically.
According to the Ministry of Roads, Transportation and Development of Mongolia, on March 9, 2021, a total of 500-625 vehicles cleared customs at the Gashuunsukhait / Gantsmod border crossing on the Chinese-Mongolian border and about 400-450 vehicles were cleared through Shivee Khuren / Sehe port on the same day.
Mongolia's coal exports to China declined in February.
According to the Mongolian Customs General Administration (GCA) and China Coal Resource Net, Mongolia's coal exports in February reached about 2.03 million tons, down 18.8% from the previous month, accounted for 93.1% of Mongolia's total coal exports. The resumption of Mongolian-Chinese coal trade has slowed due to the closure of four ports in Gantsmod and Sehe during the Lunar New Year, leading to falling prices for domestic and imported coking coal. According to a study by the China Resource Network, coking coal reserves at coke plants and steel mills rose by about 20 percent in early March from a year earlier.
China's domestic coke production has increased.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China on March 15, domestic coke production reached 79.11 million tons in January-February 2021, an increase of 10.3% over the same period last year. It was at the same level as in 2019. In the first two months of this year, China's domestic coke production continued to be good and operations and production volumes continued to grow as prices tended to rise. Based on many other factors, such as declining demand for coke in iron production in 2021, stable coke exports, declining metals, chemicals, and machinery, the agency forecasts that coke production will fall to about 463 million tons in 2021, down 1.5 percent a year. In terms of prices, some analysts predict that coke production will grow steadily in 2021. Coke prices fell in the first half of last year due to the pandemic, but coke prices rebounded in the second half due to declining coking production, raising expectations for 2021.