In May, China's coal imports hit their highest monthly level since the beginning of 2009; meanwhile, coal exports for the month in question constituted the lowest monthly volume for the past 11 years.
According to the statistics released yesterday by China's General Administration of Customs, the country's coal imports in May totaled 9.43 million mt, up more than 100 percent year on year. In the January-May period, China's total coal import volume reached 32.2 million mt. Meanwhile, China's coal exports in May amounted to just 1.19 million mt, marking the lowest monthly figure for the past eleven years. In the first five months of the year China's coal exports came to 10.53 million mt, resulting in net coal imports of 21.67 million mt during this period.