Dalrymple Bay coal terminal's exports to India slumped dramatically in October to just 266,700 mt compared with 873,500 mt in September and an on-month decline of 228%, according to shipping data for the Australian terminal released Thursday.
Last month's shipments to India from the terminal were the lowest recorded by Platts which has been tracking Dalrymple Bay terminal shipping data for two years.
In October 2014, India's offtake of coal exports from the Queensland shipment facility was 735,000 mt.
India's consumption of Dalrymple Bay coal shipments peaked this year in February at 1.26 million mt, according to terminal shipping data.
For the year to date, Indian offtake of thermal and metallurgical coal exports from the Queensland terminal are 8.26 million mt, and down from 9.1 million mt for the January-October 2014 period.
Coal producers Anglo American, Glencore, Peabody and Rio Tinto are among the users of Dalrymple Bay coal terminal which exports mostly metallurgical coal, and some thermal coal.
CHINA, JAPAN LIFT OFFTAKE
China lifted its offtake of coal exports from the Dalrymple Bay facility to 1.32 million mt in October, and up 17% from 1.13 million mt in September, said the terminal's latest shipping data.
In the January-October period, Dalrymple Bay terminal has shipped 10.36 million mt of coal exports to China, and up marginally from 10.12 million mt for the comparable 2014 period.
Japan was the destination for 1.34 million mt of Dalrymple Bay terminal coal shipments last month, up 21% on 1.11 million mt in September, said the terminal data.
For the first 10 months of 2015 the Asian country has received 12.25 million mt from the terminal, and 1 million mt less than for the corresponding 2014 period.
South Korean-bound ships took delivery of 773,000 mt of Dalrymple Bay coal exports last month, and down 27% from September's shipments to the country of 1.06 million mt.
Dalrymple Bay terminal has shipped 9.76 million mt of coal exports to South Korea over the January-October period, and for the comparable 2015 period the volume was 8.99 million mt.
The Queensland coal terminal said it shipped 5.26 million mt of coal exports on 50 ships in the month of October, said the data.
The ship queue for Dalrymple Bay coal terminal in central Queensland has remained relatively low, and stood at five ships on Thursday, said the terminal's operator DBCT Management in a separate report.
Coal cargo was available for only one of these five vessels, and at the end of October the terminal's vessel queue comprised four ships, according to terminal data.
