Many U.S. coal producers and sellers are looking to Asia to supplement shrinking domestic markets and flat demand in Europe. “Demand for thermal coal in the U.S. has been crushed, or eliminated, and the current regulatory environment is really pushing utilities to move away from thermal,” Thrasher said at the Coaltrans conference in Beijing. Total U.S. coal exports to China, the world’s largest spot coal buyer, stood at about 5 million mt in the first two months of the year, with thermal coal shipments up 5.3% on year to some 3 million mt.
China, which relies heavily on coal for power generation, is the worl’s No. 1 coal producer, but infrastructure bottlenecks have forced many coastal power plants to turn to cheaper and more accessible imports in recent years. Coal imports by the world’s second-largest economy rose 11% on year to more than 180 million mt in 2011. Shipments from the U.S. were nearly 5 million mt, a near 3% gain on year. Despite the expected increase in exports, the U.S. will continue to remain a marginal steam coal player in Asia compared with Indonesia and Australia because of limited port and rail capacity.
