Turkey's October imports of bituminous thermal coal rose to an all-time monthly high of 2.921 million mt, following record shipments of Colombian and Russian coal, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).
October imports of thermal coal rose 43% from the same month last year and gained 48% from September's 13-month low.
Total October sales for imported thermal coal were $229.678 million, equivalent to a monthly October average price of $78.61/mt, compared with September's $158.6 million and its average price of $80.09/mt.
Colombian thermal coal shipments to Turkey in October rose to the highest monthly volume on record at 1.461 million mt, more than triple shipments in October 2014 and more than double September 2015.
Average sales were priced at $64.22/mt, marginally lower from $64.56/mt during the previous month.
Russian thermal imports into Turkey surpassed the 1 million mt mark in October for the first time since November 2012, totaling 1.044 million mt, a 27% rise year-on-year and up 23% on the month.
Russian average sales were priced at $99.14/mt, up from $96.46/mt in September.
South African volumes into Turkey fell 33% year-on-year to 330,174 mt in October, but firmed 24% month on month. The average monthly price was $72.25/mt, up from September's $65.70/mt.
In October, Mozambique also shipped 53,181 mt of thermal coal into Turkey, the first shipment reported since July. It was priced at $110/mt, the same as in July.
Platts assessed the October monthly average of its CIF Turkey 6,000 kcal/kg NAR 90-day price at $57/mt, down $1.85 month on month.
The weekly CIF Turkey 6,000 kcal/kg NAR price was assessed at $58/mt Friday, up $1 week on week.
OCT COKING COAL IMPORTS DROP 2% ON-YEAR
Turkey's coking coal imports in October fell 2% year on year to 451,415 mt, and dropped 37% from September's 17-month high, TUIK data showed.
Australia shipped the bulk of coking coal into Turkey in October at 324,654 mt, followed by the US, which shipped 112,759 mt. The rest came from Colombia.
Coking coal sales amounted to $45.644 million in October, at an average sales price of $101.11/mt.
Total October anthracite imports were 44,144 mt, down 7% month on month.
