Banchero Costa: Russia still accounted for 38% of Europe’s coal imports in 1Q, 2022

At the same time imports of coal from US increased more than 60%

Europe had already begun ramping up coal purchases from alternative sources before it announced plans to ban Russian coal, according to statistics from broker Banchero Costa.

Between January and March 2022, imports of coal from the US increased more than 60% year on year to 4.4m tonnes, while those from Colombia were up over 50% year on year to 3.4m tonnes.

Despite this, Russia still accounted for 38% of Europe’s coal imports in the first three months of 2022, with volumes totalling 9.3m tonnes, down 0.4% year on year.

However, in March, Europe imported 3.1 m tonnes of coal from Russia, down 13.8% year on year, but still accounting for 32% of the European Union’s total coal imports last month.

The EU is now the fifth-largest seaborne importer of coal in the world, after China, India, Japan and South Korea. Last year, the bloc accounted for 7.5% of global seaborne coal shipments importing 81.1m tonnes.

In the first three months of 2022, coal imports increased 23.6% year on year to 24.5m tonnes, making Europe the only major region aside from South Korea to post an increase in coal imports. “If we assume that the coal volumes coming from Russia will be replaced with equal coal volumes from elsewhere, then the only realistic alternatives are Colombia, the US, and Australia,” says Ralph Leszczynski, Banchero Costa’s Singapore-based head of research.