Bulk carriers bound for ports in China have begun returning to one of the eastern seaboard’s largest coal terminals, in the latest sign Beijing’s unofficial two-year ban on Australian shipments of the fossil fuel is easing.
After China permitted three state-owned power utilities and a steelmaker to source coal from Australia again earlier this year, expectations have been building across the mining industry that a complete lifting of the ban is possible within weeks.
It ultimately forced a realignment of global trade flows, leading to Australian coal producers sending more cargo into other markets.Dalrymple Bay’s Hay Point port on the central Queensland coast shipped 53.3 million tonnes of coal in 2022, of which three-quarters were sent to Japan, South Korea, Europe and India.
“While China has not been a substantial export market for New Hope in recent times, we have seen a notable increase in inquiries from Chinese customers in recent weeks,” a spokesperson said. Wood Mackenzie head of Asia-Pacific coal research Rory Simington said removing the ban for all Chinese importers, including trading companies, was necessary for full-scale trade to resume.Other headwinds for Australia-China coal trade included falling Chinese domestic coal prices limiting appetite for imports, and the fact Australian producers still did not have much available coal to sell following a “horror” year of severe weather disruptions in 2022.
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