Tue Apr 11, 2017
A fleet of North Korean cargo ships is heading home to the port of Nampo, the majority of it fully laden, after
China ordered its trading companies to return coal from the isolated country, shipping data shows.
Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb. 26, cutting off the country's most important export product.
To curb coal traffic between the two countries, China's customs department issued an official order on April 7
telling trading companies to return their North Korean coal cargoes, said three trading sources with direct knowledge of the order.
U.S. President
Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were discussing North Korea at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on April 7.
A source at Dandong Chengtai, one of China's biggest buyers of North Korean coal, said the company had 600,000 tonnes of North Korean coal sitting at various ports, and a total of
2 million tonnes was stranded at Chinese ports.
Eikon data shows that most of these ships have recently left Chinese coal ports, including Weihai and Peng Lai,
returning to North Korea full or mostly filled with cargo.
North Korea is a significant supplier of coal to China, especially of the type used for steel making, known as coking coal.
To make up for the shortfall from North Korea,
China has ramped up imports from the United States in an unexpected boon for U.S. President Donald Trump, who has declared he wants to revive his country's struggling coal sector.
Eikon data shows no U.S. coking coal was exported to China between late 2014 and 2016, but
shipments soared to over 400,000 tonnes by late February.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-northkorea-coal-exclusive-idUSKBN17D0D8?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=58ec640104d3014cfd803ac8&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
