• 3 minutes e-car sales collapse
  • 6 minutes America Is Exceptional in Its Political Divide
  • 11 minutes Perovskites, a ‘dirt cheap’ alternative to silicon, just got a lot more efficient
  • 10 mins GREEN NEW DEAL = BLIZZARD OF LIES
  • 3 hours How Far Have We Really Gotten With Alternative Energy
  • 5 hours If hydrogen is the answer, you're asking the wrong question
  • 4 days Oil Stocks, Market Direction, Bitcoin, Minerals, Gold, Silver - Technical Trading <--- Chris Vermeulen & Gareth Soloway weigh in
  • 5 days The European Union is exceptional in its political divide. Examples are apparent in Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands, Belarus, Ireland, etc.
  • 18 hours Biden's $2 trillion Plan for Insfrastructure and Jobs
  • 4 days "What’s In Store For Europe In 2023?" By the CIA (aka RFE/RL as a ruse to deceive readers)
MINING.com

MINING.com

MINING.com is a web-based global mining publication focusing on news and commentary about mining and mineral exploration. The site is a one-stop-shop for mining industry…

More Info

Premium Content

North Korea Hit Hard As Coal Exports To China Fall 71%

According to Chinese customs data released on Tuesday, the country imported 512,000 tonnes of coal – mainly the steelmaking variety – from North Korea in September. Volumes were down 71.6 percent from the same month last year as Beijing institutes the latest round of UN sanctions on the rogue regime.

While the UN Security Council ban on Pyongyang's sale of coal, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood are only due to come into force this month, China began to enforce the restrictions in mid-August. The September coal cargoes were valued at $44 million which translates into $86 a tonne, a deep discount to the ruling price for metallurgical coal.

In the past China skirted embargoes against North Korea on humanitarian grounds

Coal imports for the first nine months of 2017 totalled 4.83 million tonnes. Last year China imported 22.4 million tonnes of anthracitic coal that can be used as an alternative to coking coal in the steelmaking process from North Korea, a nearly 15 percent rise from 2015. That placed the Asian country just behind in Australia as China's number two supplier of met coal.

In the past China skirted embargoes against North Korea on humanitarian grounds, saying a ban would hurt ordinary citizens of the impoverished country, but pressure on Beijing has increased as Kim Jong-un's nuclear missile program advances.

Coking coal is trading nearly $140 a tonne below its mid-April peak when the price of jumped to highest since the second quarter of 2011 due to disruptions related to cyclone Debbie in the state of Queensland. Related: Saudi Rhetoric Sends Oil Prices To Two-Year High

But most producers would probably be happy with today's price around $178. In November 2015, the spot price fell to a record low of $75 a tonne. Coking coal averaged $121 a tonne in 2016 and $90 the year before.

China's imports of iron ore and lead concentrate from North Korea also fell sharply in September, back to levels last seen at the start of the decade according to Reuters calculations.

Lead ore and concentrate shipments came in at just 1,321 tonnes, worth $1.18 million, down 84 percent from a year earlier. Iron ore shipments plunged 98 percent to just over 3,000 tonnes, worth about $55,000. Chinese exports of gasoline and diesel to North Korea have fallen to close to zero.

By Mining.com

ADVERTISEMENT

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:


Download The Free Oilprice App Today

Back to homepage





Leave a comment

Leave a comment




EXXON Mobil -0.35
Open57.81 Trading Vol.6.96M Previous Vol.241.7B
BUY 57.15
Sell 57.00
Oilprice - The No. 1 Source for Oil & Energy News