U.S. exports of thermal coal to Asia and Africa are up for the first half of 2024, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), helping to drive overall U.S. coal exports (thermal and metallurgical) to 53 million tons from 49 million tons in the first half of 2023.
Exports of thermal coal from the U.S. to Asia increased 2.3 million tons in the first half of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023. The increase was driven mainly by greater deliveries to India and China. India accounted for 57% of these exports to Asia in 2023 and continued to receive large amounts of U.S. thermal coal in the first half of 2024, led by industrial customers in the brickmaking sector. Chinese power companies accounted for most of the rest of the increase.
Asia has received more U.S. thermal coal than any other region since 2017, when it overtook Europe, which previously had been the top destination in every year since 2009.
Exports of thermal coal from the United States to Africa increased from 3.3 million tons in the first six months of 2023 to 5.3 million tons in the same period of 2024. Going back to 2000, U.S. exporters have never shipped more than 5 million tons of thermal coal to Africa during the first six months of the year, and U.S. thermal coal exports to Africa have only exceeded 4 million tons once, in 2019.
In the first half of 2024, U.S. exporters shipped virtually all (98%) of this thermal coal to Egypt and Morocco. In the first six months of 2024, exporters shipped 2.8 million tons to Morocco and 2.4 million tons to Egypt, compared with 1.4 million tons and 1.8 million tons, respectively, in the same months of 2023. A major reason for increased exports of U.S. thermal coal into North Africa has been strong demand by industry, mostly from cement plants and brickmakers. These customers value the high heat content of U.S. thermal coal, which makes their manufacturing operations more efficient.
U.S. thermal coal exports to Europe rose in 2022 and in the first half of 2023 due to sanctions on the purchase of energy from Russia following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Exports from the United States to Europe increased from 6.4 million tons in 2021 to 14 million tons in 2022, when sanctions on Russia took effect. U.S. exports to Europe totaled 10.5 million tons in 2023; however, that resurgence has faded. In the first half of 2024, U.S. thermal coal exports to Europe totaled 2.4 million tons, 63% less than during the same period in 2023 due to weak demand related to a mild winter, greater use of natural gas by power companies, and increased generation from renewable sources.
