2022 global seaborne coal market statistics released, according to the Italian ship brokerage and service group Bancero Costa (Banchero Costa) recently released market weekly report, which cited ship tracking data show that in 2022, the global seaborne coal trade total shipment volume (excluding the supply of domestic transportation) is 1.2048 billion tons, compared with 21 years of growth of nearly 5.8 percent.
"After a slow recovery in the first quarter of last year, global coal trade has indeed picked up pace throughout the year and is now fully back to pre-New Crown levels," Costa, Banchero of shipbrokers, said in its latest weekly report."
According to data from the China Coal Economic Research Association, in the first quarter of 2022, global seaborne coal shipments were only 0.2574 billion tons, down 4.8 percent from the same period last year and 20.3 percent from the first quarter of 2019. In the second quarter, global seaborne coal shipments rose to 0.3138 billion tonnes, up 8.5 per cent year-on-year and down 4.1 per cent from the second quarter of 2019. In the third quarter, coal shipments were 0.3172 billion tons, up 6.3 percent year-on-year and down only 0.7 percent from the third quarter of 2019. In the fourth quarter, coal shipments were 0.3165 billion tonnes, a strong increase of 12.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2021 and roughly the same as the fourth quarter of 2019, with a slight decrease of only 0.6 percent.
in 2022, exports from Indonesia, the world's largest coal exporter, will increase by 21.1 per cent year-on-year to 0.3888 billion tonnes, while Australia's exports will fall by 5.0 per cent year-on-year to 0.3404 billion tonnes.
Seaborne coal imports to the European Union are to grow 34.0 per cent year-on-year to 0.1166 billion tonnes in 2022, while India's imports are up 13.6 per cent year-on-year to 0.2038 billion tonnes and China's imports are down 3.2 per cent year-on-year to 0.2347 billion tonnes.
2022 China's coal imports fell slightly
China is currently the world's largest importer of seaborne coal (including thermal and coking), accounting for 19.8 percent of the global seaborne coal market in 2022. India accounts for 17.2 per cent of global coal trade and Japan for 14.6 per cent. Data show that as of the 12 months of 2022, China's total seaborne coal imports reached 0.2349 billion tons. This is down 3.3 percent from 0.2428 billion tons in 2021, down 1.6 percent from 0.2387 billion tons in 2020, and down 10.4 percent from the record 0.2621 billion tons of imports in 2019.
Banchero Costa added: China imported only 38.7 million tons of coal in the first quarter of 2022 (down 35.2 percent year-on-year), climbing to 49.3 million tons in the second quarter of 2022 (down 16.5 percent year-on-year), rising further to 72.1 million tons in the third quarter of 2022 (up 10.7 percent year-on-year), and 74.8 million tons in the fourth quarter of 2022 (up 26.8 percent year-on-year).
According to statistics, nearly 60% of the coal imported into China is transported by Panamax ships, 30% by portable ships, and only 10% on Cape of Good Hope or VLOC.
in terms of trading patterns, global market conditions are changing considerably. Indonesia is by far the largest supplier of coal to China, accounting for 60.9 percent of China's imports in 2022. China's second largest coal supplier is Russia, which accounts for 23.9 percent of China's coal imports. From January to December 2022, Russian shipments to China increased by 35.5 per cent year-on-year, rising to 56 million tonnes from 41.4 million tonnes in the same period in 2021. On a monthly basis, Russian imports to China reached an all-time high of 7.4 million tonnes in July 2022 (up 81.8 per cent YoY), and then fell to 5.6 million tonnes in December 2022 (up 78.8 per cent YoY). Imports from Russia surged last year as Europe suspended coal purchases from Russia. From January to December 2022, U.S. shipments to China fell 62.9 percent year-over-year, to 4.5 million tons from a record 12 million tons in 2021. Shipment from South Africa also fell from 13.8 million tonnes in 2021 to 8.5 million tonnes in 2022, a 38.6 per cent decline year-on-year.
India's coal imports to rise sharply 2022
India is the world's second largest importer of seaborne coal in, behind China, with seaborne coal imports accounting for 17.2 per cent of the global seaborne coal market in 2022. India's coal imports were relatively low in 2020 and 2021 due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, but rebounded sharply in 2022 to near record levels. According to Refinite's ship tracking data, India's total seaborne coal imports totaled 0.2038 billion tons in the 12 months of 2022. That's up 13.6 percent from 0.1795 billion tons in 2021 and 10.9 percent from 0.1838 billion tons in 2020, but still down 1.7 percent from 0.2073 billion tons in 2019.
Most of the coal imported by to India is shipped by Cape of Good Hope vessels, accounting for about 50%, 38% is loaded by Panamax or ultra-Panamax vessels, and only 12% is loaded by flexible bulk carriers or ultra-flexible vessels.
, due to various factors such as business and politics, the trade flow pattern of coal imports in India has undergone major changes.
Indonesia remains India's largest source of coal imports, accounting for 43.3 per cent of India's total coal imports in 2022, it imported 88.2 million tons of coal for the year, up 72.3 per cent year-on-year, but still down from 91.9 million tons in 2019.
is followed by Australia. India will import 52.8 million tons of coal from Australia in 2022, accounting for about 25.9 percent of its total imports, down 25.89 percent from 71.2 million tons in 2021.
Source: Shipping