MARKETS

BHP confident on coking coal

BHP Billiton is expecting more Chinese coking coal imports on the back of future growth in the co...

Blair Price
BHP confident on coking coal

In a presentation at the Goldman Sachs JBWere Australasian Investment Forum in New York on Friday, BHP ferrous and coal chief executive officer Marcus Randolph discussed the new steel projects in eastern China, such as those by steelmakers Rizhao Iron and Steel, WISCO and Baosteel, intended to lift output.

Randolph said 70% of China’s steel capacity and 70% of its planned steel capacity growth was in the coastal provinces.

He also noted China’s steel mills were building larger blast furnaces to improve productivity and reduce costs, which also require better quality coke and therefore more high-quality hard coking coal.

Randolph’s views echo those of BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers last month.

“While we’re not sure that 2010 will be an exact repeat of 2009, we do expect the trend toward imports in this product to continue,” Kloppers said during the company’s interim results presentation.

China became a net coal importer to the tune of 67.57 million tonnes in 2009, while the country was traditionally a net coal exporter in the preceding years, with net exports of 17.43Mt in 2008.

China also accounted for 47% of world steel production in 2009 compared to 38% in 2008.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the mining sector, brought to you by the Mining Monthly Intelligence team.

editions

ESG Mining Company Index: Benchmarking the Future of Sustainable Mining

The ESG Mining Company Index report provides an in-depth evaluation of ESG performance of 61 of the world's largest mining companies. Using a robust framework, it assesses each company across 9 meticulously weighted indicators within 6 essential pillars.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Exploration Report 2024 (feat. Opaxe data)

A comprehensive review of exploration trends and technologies, highlighting the best intercepts and discoveries and the latest initial resource estimates.

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Future Fleets Report 2024

The report paints a picture of the equipment landscape and includes detailed profiles of mines that are employing these fleets

editions

Mining Magazine Intelligence Digitalisation Report 2023

An in-depth review of operations that use digitalisation technology to drive improvements across all areas of mining production