China imported 89 MMT of iron ore in June.  This marks a month-on-month decline of 3.5 MMT (-4%) and is down year-on-year by just 400,000 tons.  As we have continued to stress in our work, there remains a good chance that imports will climb higher in the second half of this year as iron ore port stockpiles have recently declined and as Brazilian and Australian iron ore production remain poised to undergo seasonal strength.

China imported 19 MMT of coal in June.  This marks a month-on-month decline of 1.5 MMT (-7%) and is down year-on-year by 9.4 MMT (-33%).  We continue to stress there remains a very good chance that coal imports will contract on a year-on-year basis this year.  China’s domestic coal production has continued to fare much better than thermal coal-derived electricity generation (even before coronavirus issues started to impact thermal coal-derived electricity generation this year).  

China imported 8.3 MMT of soybeans in June.  This marks a month-on-month decline of 1.4 MMT (-14%) and is down year-on-year by 2.4 MMT (-22%).  Going forward, the outlook for China’s soybean imports is less clear than the outlook for coal and iron ore imports.