According to the data released by Chinese customs, China's coking coal imports totaled 12.89 million mt in the first six months of 2009, up 340 percent year on year. The average CIF price of imported coking coal in the first half of the current year was $130/mt, up 14 percent year on year. In June, the country's coking coal imports recorded a new historical high at 4.63 million mt, up 700 percent year on year.
In the first half of 2009, prices of imported coking coal were consistently RMB 100-250/mt ($15-37/mt) lower than the prices of domestic coking coal, attracting many Chinese customers such as Shagang, Liuzhou Steel, Angang, and Baosteel.
The rapid surge in coking coal imports mainly resulted from the recovery posted by the Chinese steel industry. China's daily crude steel output reached only 1.33 million mt in the first quarter this year, while it jumped to 1.65 million mt in June.