China imposes duties on Russian coal exports, which collapse
Sales of Russian coal to China fell 22% in January and February compared to the same months last year, after China reimposed a tax on imports, making Russian coal more expensive.
The reintroduction of the coal import tax does not affect either Australia or Indonesia, two large coal exporters and direct competitors of Russia, because they have free trade agreements with China. Russia, paradoxically, still doesn't.
Despite rising total Chinese coal imports in the first two months of 2024, Russian sales have plummeted, according to official Chinese customs data cited by Bloomberg.
China's coal imports rose 23% from a year earlier, but imports from Russia fell 22% to 11.5 million tonnes. The coal came from Indonesia, Australia and other countries.
China removed the tariff on imports shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine rattled energy markets in 2022 and sent coal prices to record highs, when China was struggling to avoid blackouts. Now the tax has been reintroduced in an attempt to protect Chinese mining companies and Chinese production, which has since reached a record high.
Currently, Indonesia is China's largest coal supplier, while Russia holds second place.
Russia is also struggling to sell its coal to the Asian market
Lower coal prices from major exporters Indonesia, South Africa and Australia are weighing on Russia's ability to sell more coal to Asia, which has become Moscow's main export market after the West imposed an embargo on its coal in 2022.
China, South Korea, Turkey and India are currently the main importers of coal from Russia. These countries received more than 80% of Russia's coal exports between August 2022 and July 2023, compared to 47% between August 2021 and July 2022, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said. US in an analysis earlier this year.
Domestic logistical challenges are also weighing on Russia's coal exports. According to the EIA, “limited rail infrastructure eastbound from the Kuzbass region of western Siberia, where coal production is concentrated, causes congestion, delays and longer delivery times.”
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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-cina-impone-dazi-allexport-di-carbone-russo-che-crolla/ on Fri, 22 Mar 2024 06:10:42 +0000.