Dry Bulk Market: Coal Imports Down So Far in 2025

China’s coal imports have been retreating so far in 2025. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Banchero Costa said that “in Jan-Jul 2025, global seaborne coal loadings declined by -6.3% y-o-y to 732.2 mln t (excluding cabotage), based on vessel tracking data from AXS Marine. In Jan-Jul 2025, exports from Indonesia declined by -12.7% y-o-y to 262.1 mln tonnes, whilst from Australia were down by -3.1% y-o-y to 193.2 mln t. From Russia exports increased by +0.3% y-o-y to 97.8 mln t in Jan-Jul 2025, from the USA declined by -9.6% y-o-y to 46.4 mln t, from South Africa by +8.6% y-o-y to 36.4 mln t. Shipments from Colombia declined by -26.2% y-o-y to 25.5 mln t in JanJul 2025, from Canada up by +3.6% y-o-y to 29.3 mln t, and from Mozambique down by -7.5% t-o-y to 11.5 mln t. Seaborne coal imports into Mainland China declined by -14.8% y-o-y to 196.1 mln t in Jan-Jul 2025. Imports to India declined by -3.3% yo-y to 141.7 mln t, to Japan declined by -3.1% y-o-y to 85.3 mln t in JanJul 2025, to South Korea down by -12.2% y-o-y to 56.6 mln t. Imports to Malaysia increased by +5.6% y-o-y to 23.6 mln t, whilst to Vietnam volumes increased by +11.2% y-o-y to 39.7 mln tonnes. To the EU imports were up by +2.2% y-o-y to 35.9 mln tonnes in Jan-Jul 2025, and to Turkey by +1.0% y-o-y to 22.0 mln t”.

Source: Banchero Costa

According to Banchero Costa, “mainland China is currently the world’s largest seaborne importer of coal (including both thermal and coking), accounting for 26.5% of the global seaborne coal market in 2025. It is ahead of India, which accounts for 19.2% of coal trade and Japan with a 11.5% market share. Total seaborne coal imports into China in the 12 months of 2024 reached a record 427.1 mln tonnes, according to Refinitiv vessel tracking. This was up +15.9% y-o-y from the 368.4 mln t of 2023, which in turn was up +48.6% from the 248.0 mln t in 2022. In Jan-Jul 2025, imports into China corrected by -14.8% y-o-y to 196.1 mln t, but were still higher than the 119.7 mln t in Jan-Jul 2022 and the 169.3 mln t in Jan-Jul 2021.

In Jan-Jul 2025, most coal volumes into China were loaded on Panamax vessels (54.3%), with 21.4% on Supramax and Ultramax vessels, 8.5% on Post-Panamaxes and 12.3% on Capesize tonnage. Top discharge ports for coal imports into China in Jan-Jul 2025 were Machong (13.7 mln tonnes of coal in Jan-Jul 2025), Fangcheng (13.4 mln t), Qinzhou (9.8 mln t), Gaolan (8.8 mln t), Shanghai (8.0 mln t), Guangzhou (7.2 mln t), Meizhou (6.3 mln t), Haimen (5.6 mln t), Ningbo (5.5 mln t), Nanjing (5.0 mln t), Chaozhou (5.0 mln t), Yuhuan (4.9 mln t)”.

Source: Banchero Costa

The shipbroker added that “Indonesia is still by far the top supplier of coal to China accounting for 48.9% of China’s imports in the first 7 months of 2025. Arrivals from Indonesia to China declined by -21.8% y-o-y to 96.0 mln tonnes in Jan-Jul 2025 compared to 122.7 mln t in Jan-Jul 2024. Australia is now back, and the second largest supplier of coal into China with a share of 21.3%. In Jan-Jul 2025, China imported 41.8 mln t of coal from Australia, down -4.2% y-o-y from 43.6 mln t in Jan-Jul 2024, but very much up from the 24.0 mln t in Jan-Jul 2023 or the 0.1 mln t in Jan-Jul 2022. The third largest supplier of coal to China is Russia, accounting for a 18.4% share of Chinese imports. Coal shipments from Russia to China declined by -4.7% y-o-y to 36.1 mln t in Jan-Jul 2025, below the 37.9 mln t in Jan-Jul 2024, but also well below the 46.8 mln t in Jan-Jun 2023. Most Russian shipments are sourced from the Far East region, with 8.2 mln t imported in Jan-Jul 2025 from Vanino, 7.8 mln t from Shakhtersk, 4.8 mln t from Vostochny, 4.3 mln t from Nakhodka. Coal volumes from Canada to China have skyrocketed by +18.3% y-o-y in Jan-Jul 2025 to 7.4 mln t. From the USA they unsurprisingly declined by -25.4% y-o-y to 3.5 mln tonnes in Jan-Jul 2025”, Banchero Costa concluded.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide