China imported 11 million mt of thermal coal in November, rising 69.2% year on year and 50.5% on the month to the highest volume since December 2014, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed Friday.
During the January-November period, China imported 86.98 million mt of thermal coal, climbing 14.9% from the same period of 2015, marking the fifth straight month that the year-to-date volume has been higher than the year before.
Indonesia remained the largest supplier of thermal coal to China, shipping 5.15 million mt, more than doubling from 1.98 million mt in November 2015, and rising 39% from October to the highest volume since January 2014.
Imports from Australia weren't far behind at 4.35 million mt, up 18% year on year and 41% higher on the month.
China's imports of Russian thermal coal also jumped 52% year on year to 1.13 million mt, which was also up 23% from October.
Total lignite imports for November more than doubled on the year to 8.95 million mt from 3.77 million mt in November 2015. They were also 29% higher than October and the highest on record since S&P Global Platts records began in January 2013. Of the total, 8.32 million mt came from Indonesia, also more than doubling from 3.56 million mt a year ago and 27% from October.
