China’s coal imports from Mongolia rose 13% in August from a year earlier to 8.41 million metric tons, up 20.2% from July and the highest monthly level since Reuters began tracking the data in 2022.
The imports included more than 6 million tons of coking coal from Mongolia in August, up 21% from July and the highest since December 2023.
By contrast, China’s August coal imports from its top supplier Indonesia fell 13% from a year earlier to 17.6 million tons, customs data showed Saturday.
Imports from Indonesia, however, rose 33.6% from July. For the first eight months of the year, shipments from Indonesia dropped 15% year over year to 121.76 million tons.
Indonesia in late August cancelled a requirement to use government benchmark prices as the floor price in its coal sales, which is one reason for the lower Indonesian imports this year.
Buyers and exporters prefer the previous Indonesian Coal Index to price shipments because the government’s benchmark was opaque, updated less frequently and more expensive.
The policy’s cancellation may now boost China’s coal imports from Indonesia, analysts said.
China’s overall coal imports rose to an eight-month high in August, supported by higher domestic prices, but were still down 7% from a year earlier level on weak demand and higher domestic supply.
Below are figures on China’s imports from its top four suppliers: Country August Year-on-year Jan-August Year-on-year % change 2025 % change 2025 Indonesia -13% -15% 17,605,534 121,761,520 Russia -7% 59,573,349 -6% 8,116,025 Mongolia 8,411,482 13% 52,630,081 -2% Australia 6,697,696 8% 48,888,739 -2%.
