Reuters: China Sells Coking Coal to Indonesia In Rare Trade

China sent a rare shipment of at least three cargoes of coking coal to processors in Indonesia's Sulawesi in May, sources familiar with the matter said, encroaching on a market typically dominated by supplies from Australia and Indonesia.

By Sam Li, Sudarshan Varadhan and Hongmei Li

A worker walks past coal piles at a coal coking plant in Yuncheng, Shanxi province, China January 31, 2018. Picture taken January 31, 2018. REUTERS/William Hong/File Photo 

BEIJING/SINGAPORE, June 16 (Reuters) - China sent a rare shipment of at least three cargoes of coking coal to processors in Indonesia's Sulawesi in May, sources familiar with the matter said, encroaching on a market typically dominated by supplies from Australia and Indonesia.

The world's biggest importer of coking coal, China is not a major exporter of the steelmaking fuel, and has exported it to Indonesia only three times since the start of 2024, monthly Chinese customs data shows.

State-run Shanxi Coking Coal Group (000983.SZ), opens new tab sold coking coal to China Risun Group (1907.HK), opens new tab, which was later exported to Indonesia last month, three sources said. Risun runs one of the largest coke-processing plants in Indonesia's Sulawesi region.

The state-run group sold another cargo to Hong Kong Jinteng Development Ltd for export to Indonesia, the source said, while the second source added that it also sold a third cargo to a Dexin Steel plant in Indonesia.

The sources sought anonymity as they were not authorised to speak on the issue.

China exported 78,030 metric tons of coking coal to Indonesia in April, the first shipment since last July. Data for May is not available yet.

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