Australia's exports of coking coal have slumped to their lowest level since last February, when storms flooded Queensland's mines.
Exports from Queensland's four coking coal ports fell 11 per cent in December to 11.34 million tonnes, port statistics show, with BHP Billiton's Hay Point terminal the hardest hit with a 24 percent fall.
BHP is by far the world's biggest coking coal exporter, producing four times as much as its nearest local rival, Xstrata, but has so far resisted joining Xstrata, Rio Tinto, Peabody and Macarthur Coal in announcing production cuts.
Shipments from BHP's Hay Point Terminal, where it can export more than half the coal it produces, fell to 2.57 million tonnes last month, down from 3.38 million in November.
While Western Australia's big iron ore mines felt the brunt of China's slowdown in October and November, Queensland's coking coal industry, which had been tipped to deliver $40 billion in revenue this year, held out until last month's sudden drop in demand.
BHP has been tight-lipped on its coking coal production ahead of its quarterly output report due next week, but chief executive Marius Kloppers said in November that production would be affected if the weak global conditions persisted.
Analysts say more production cuts are needed to bring the coking coal market back in balance.
Exports through Babcock & Brown Infrastructure's Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal, also at Hay Point, slumped 15 per cent to 3.33 million tonnes, while at Gladstone, Queensland's biggest coal port, they fell 5 per cent to 4.26 million tonnes.
In February, Queensland's coal exports slumped to 8.49 million tonnes after heavy rains, helping to triple coking coal contract prices to $US300 a tonne in subsequent negotiations.
The sharp drop in coking coal demand has analysts expecting prices will fall 50 to 60per cent this year.
Source: The Australian
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