“Australia's coking coal exports are on track to increase for a fifth straight year in 2015 after rising 4.7% in 1Q,”Bloomberg Intelligence reported.

“Following a seasonal dip in January and February, exports recovered 29% in March to 16.6 million metric tonnes. Shipments from the world's largest seaborne exporter may remain elevated in 2Q.”

Leading Australian coking coal exporter BHP is targeting 49Mt of production for the current financial year.

To hit this goal, BHP will produce 13Mt in the June quarter according to Bloomberg Intelligence, which said this was up from the trailing three-quarter run-rate of 12Mt.