China's coking coal imports rebounded in October, boosted by increased imports from Mongolia and the clearance through customs of Australian coking coal stored in Chinese ports, Kallanish notes.

Customs data suggest 4.38 million tonnes of coking coal was imported in October, down by 26% from a year earlier but up by 1% from September. From January to October, imports still fell by 40% on-year to 39.47mt.

Imports from Australia totalled 777,915t in October, marking the first imports so far this year. Market information shows that Chinese customs officials are only clearing coking coal that was recorded in their systems before October 2020. This tonnage therefore represents material stored at ports and not new shipments.

Mongolia-origin coking coal arrivals also surged by 82% from the previous month to 1.2mt in October, but this was still down by 63% from a year earlier. The wave of Covid-19 that began at the end of October and lasted until the end of November is expected to hit China's coking coal imports again in November data.