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China's imports of coking coal plummeted in 2021, as the country strived to diversify its sources amid an unofficial ban on Australian coal and coronavirus pandemic-hit Mongolian imports, analysts said.
China imported 54.7 million tonnes of coking coal - an essential ingredient in the production of steel - last year, down by 24.6 per cent from 2020, according to official data.
"Even though demand for non-Australian seaborne coal imports was strong, it still could not make up for the gap left by Australian and Mongolian coal [imports]," said Jia Na, a coal analyst with the Shanxi-based Today Think Tank, on Monday.
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Among the coking coal imports, 11.3 per cent or 6.17 million tonnes, was imported from Australia since October, when China started to allow Australian coal that had been stranded at its ports in the wake of Beijing's import ban which started in October 2020.
Some 5.54 million tonnes of Australian thermal coal, which is used for power generation, was also imported in the final three months of last year when the country was faced with a power crunch due to a severe coal supply shortage.
Most of the Australian coal that was being held at Chinese ports has now been cleared, Jia added.
There is, though, no sign of a wholesale lifting of the unofficial coal ban that will allow new shipments from Australia, analysts said.
China imposed unofficial bans on the imports of a variety of Australian products - including coal, lobsters and log timers - in late 2020, after Canberra supported calls for an international investigation into China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
China and Australia will continue to seek alternative trade partners in 2022, according to S&P Global Platts last month.
"If anything, similar to the current market situation, the trade dispute impact will be more greatly felt by Australian metallurgical coal producers and Chinese steel mills, rather than thermal coal producers and Chinese power utilities," the note said.
With rising demand from other Asian markets and the European Union for Australian coking coal, the supply chains disrupted by China's informal import restrictions have largely been reorganised, according to "The Resources and Energy Quarterly" report produced by the Australian government in December.