China's Mar coking coal imports surges 110% from Feb to 6.13 mil mt

China's coking coal imports surged 110% month on month to 6.13 million mt in March, and rose 52.72% from a year ago, according to China Customs Statistics data released Friday. 

Imports from key supplier Australia rose 92.57% month on month to 2.22 million mt in March, up 65.99% compared with a year ago.

Cargoes from Mongolia surged 128.67% month on month to 3.26 million mt, and up 44.53% compared with a year ago. Also, imports from Russia was up 117% month on month to 417,645 mt, up 102% compared with a year ago. 

Since import restrictions on coking coal were first implemented in mid-November 2018, China's coking coal imports have been volatile on a monthly basis. In January, imports surged to 7.3 million mt, following the plunge to 2.9 million mt in February. China imported 16.4 million mt in the first-quarter of 2019, up 36.97% compared with Q1 2018. 

With import restrictions at play, there has been reduced market activity since early-March. According to S&P Global Platts' data, 21 spot transactions with a total tonnage of 1.99 million mt were observed to have been sold to China during March-April. This compares with 54 transactions and a total tonnage of 4.49 million mt a year ago. 

This also implies a sharp decline in coking coal arrivals over April and May, according to Platts calculations.