German hard coal importers turn to US and Australia

FRANKFURT, Jan 17 (Reuters) - German importers of coal for power generation, heating and steelmaking have found new suppliers in the United States and Australia, enabling them to end their reliance on Russia, industry body VDKi said on Wednesday.

Between January and October 2023, Russia accounted for 2% of all German imported coal volumes - mainly supplies that had reached Germany and other European countries before a European Union ban in August 2022 under sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, a VDKi handout seen by Reuters showed.

In 2021, Russia supplied 53% of Germany's coal imports.

The United States accounted for 28% of the 28 million metric tons imported in total in the first ten months of 2023 by Europe's largest economy, followed by 27% from Australia and 15% from Colombia.

Canada, Poland and South Africa supplied smaller shares, the data also showed, with VDKi noting that South Africa had lately been more active.

Overall, German hard coal imports in the whole of 2023 may have fallen by 26.3% year-on-year to around 33.0 million tons, VDKi said in a preliminary estimate given in a data set presented at a reception in Hamburg.

That figure is close to the outcome in 2020 and reflected a number of trends, namely: the effects of a muted economy, mild weather, moves to reduce coal usage under climate protection laws, higher renewable production due to its ongoing expansion, and a rise in imports of power from European neighbours.

In a wider view of global trade patterns, VDKi noted that Russia had stepped up exports to China, mostly via rail - making them less traceable by statistics covering seaborne trade, which carries 15% of the total world coal production. (Reporting by Vera Eckert Editing by Mark Potter)