June 14, 2019 - South Korea imported 2.15mn t of coking coal in May, up by 19.1pc year on year, on the back of increased shipments from Canada, the US and Russia, customs data shows.

The disruptions and delays to shipments from the four major ports in Queensland, Australia at the start of this year are likely to have driven South Korean mills to turn to alternative supply sources.

South Korea imported 419,030t of coking coal from Canada in May, up by 73.6pc year on year. The increase in Canadian shipments follows a fall in Canadian coking coal shipments to Europe in April, while Asia-Pacific volumes rose. The country imported 304,728t of coking coal from the US and 504,980t from Russia in the same month, up by 81.4pc and 22.3pc year on year respectively.

South Korea's receipts of Australian coking coal reached 821,700t in May, largely similar to the 887,046t received in the same month last year.

But earlier in the year, Australia's coking coal shipments to South Korea took a hit from the supply disruptions that led to loadings falling to a 22-month low in February. There continued to be port disruptions in March at the Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal in Queensland and delays as recently as May. South Korea imported 3.46mn t of coking coal from Australia in January-May, down by 26.4pc year on year.

Imports of Canadian coking coal in the same period reached 2.46mn t, up by 8.2pc year on year. Imports from Russia and the US are down in the same period, with Russian shipments totalling 2.05mn t, down by 5pc year on year and US imports at 976,367t down by 16.2pc.

South Korea coking coal imports '000t