China exported 1.07 million tonnes of metallurgical and semi-finished coke in January, according to preliminary customs data released on Sunday February 8. This is the highest monthly level for such exports since the country scrapped a 40% export tax in January 2013, as reported by SteelFirst.
Last month is also the second consecutive month that the volume had exceeded 1 million tonnes. In December, China shipped 1.02 million tonnes of coke abroad.
January’s volume is also 44.6% higher than the 740,000 tonnes exported in January 2014.
China exported 8.51 million tonnes of coke in the whole of last year.
Close to 30% of the shipments went to India while around 27% went to Japan. They were joined by Brazil, Iran and Vietnam as last year’s top five buyers of Chinese coke.