Thermal coal prices hit 4-yr low in Asia as China imports wane

LAUNCESTON, Australia, May 6 (Reuters): Asia's seaborne thermal coal prices have slumped to four-year lows as the region's heavyweight buyers China, India and Japan all import less of the power-station fuel.

Prices for the main grades of thermal coal shipped from top exporters Indonesia and Australia have been on a sustained downtrend since October last year, and this has accelerated in recent weeks as import volumes have weakened.

China, the world's biggest buyer of thermal coal, saw imports drop to 22.72 million metric tons in April, down from 23.84 million tons in March, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler.

For the first four months of 2025, China imported 91.56 million tons, down 13.1% from the 105.4 million tons in the same period a year earlier, according to Kpler.

The fall in China's thermal coal imports comes amid weaker coal-fired generation and record high domestic coal output. First-quarter thermal power generation in China, which is overwhelmingly coal-fired with only tiny volumes of natural gas, fell 4.7% as both hydropower and renewable generation rose.