Due to my country’s import restrictions on Australian coal, the total coal imported from Australia in the first seven months of this year was only 780,000 tons, down 98.6% from 56.8 million tons in the same period in 2020.

In the first seven months of 2020, there were 697 coal shipping voyages. Among them, Panamax ships accounted for 59.1%, and Cape ships ranked second, accounting for 35.3%. By comparison, coal trade between the two countries has seen just 14 voyages this year, eight of them on Panamax vessels. China’s share of total coal imports from Australia fell off a cliff to 0.4%. While China’s coal imports from Indonesia increased by 45.2% from 76.4 million tonnes in the first seven months of last year to 110.9 million tonnes this year, China’s share of total coal imports from Indonesia jumped to 60.4%.

Despite the sharp drop in exports to China, total Australian coal exports increased by almost 400,000 tonnes or 0.2% compared to the first seven months of last year, while ton-mile demand increased by 6.8%, driving dry bulk instead. market in the freight transport industry. Among them, Australia’s exports to India and South Korea grew the fastest, increasing by 22.3 million tons (+96.3%) and 15 million tons (+72.2%), respectively.

Australia’s coal exports totalled 223.4 million tonnes in the first seven months of the year, excluding 2020, the slowest start since 2015. Nonetheless, new ton-mile demand did not fall to 2015 levels, as the average sailing distance per ton of cargo rose 6.6% to 4,603 miles from 7 million miles in 2020.

Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO, said: “The Sino-Australian coal trade disruption is in its second year and buyers and sellers are re-matching, none of them wanting to lose business in trade policy. This also adds to the outlook for a congested dry bulk market. More optimistic, Asia in particular can attract tonnage and drive up freight rates.”