Reuters reported that China's imports of South African thermal coal rose to 2.1 million tonnes(MT) in July 2012 or nearly 35% of total shipments of 6.3 MT.
Despite widespread defaults by Chinese trading firms and end users, China's coal imports have remained strong during the past several months.
One exporter said that "It was a big import month for China." Suppliers said that China's record thermal and metallurgical coal imports in H1 2012 were not enough to prevent thermal coal prices from dropping to two year lows in June 2012 or the slump in metallurgical coal which began in July 2012.
China imported 140 MT of all types of coal in H1, a 65% YoY on year ago levels. Traders said that Indian spot demand has been steady but given the lack of buying in Europe, if China had not taken increasing volumes from South Africa, the Richards Bay FOB benchmark price would be sharply lower than current levels of around USD 88 to USD 90.
India, which has been the biggest importing country of South African coal for several years, took 1.7 MT in July 2012, little changed from 1.6 MT in the previous month. Asia, including India, accounted for 5 MT of exports.
The Atlantic had for decades until 2006 been the largest, key market for South African producers but its share has been shrinking annually, displaced by cheaper coal from Colombia and the United States. The Atlantic market's share rose to 1.3 million tonnes from 830,000 tonnes in June 2012.