Houston (Platts)--3 Sep 2015 418 pm EDT/2018 GMT

US coal exports totaled roughly 4.6 million mt in July, the lowest monthly total going back to at least 2011, according to US Census Bureau released Thursday.

July's US coal exports were down 11.6% from the prior month and down 28.8% compared with the year-ago period. The drop follows the continued decline in seaborne pricing for both thermal and metallurgical coal due to both global oversupply and weak demand.

On Thursday, Platts assessed the spot price for low vol US met coal FOB US East Coast at $88.50/mt, down 22% from a year ago, while the CIF ARA price for thermal coal delivered into Northern Europe in 15-60 days was assessed at $55.30/mt, down 27% year on year.

In July, met coal exports totaled 2.7 million mt, down 25.8% from the prior month and down 39.2% from the year-ago month. In the first seven months of 2015, met coal exports have totaled 26.4 million mt, down 22.1% compared with the same period a year earlier.

Bituminous coal exports totaled 1.5 million mt in July, up 33% from the previous month but down 11.2% from the year-ago month. Through July, 2015 bituminous coal exports have totaled 12.6 million mt, down 19.4% compared with the same period last year.

Subbituminous coal exports totaled 409,050 mt in July, up 0.9% from June and up 3% from the year-ago month. In the first seven months of 2015, subbituminous exports totaled 2.9 million mt, down 25.2% from last year.

The UK imported the most US thermal coal in July, at 384,585 mt; followed by South Korea, at 328,347 mt; then Mexico, at 327,897 mt.

Through July, the largest importer of US thermal coal year-to-date is the Netherlands, at 3.9 million mt; followed by South Korea, at 2.4 million mt; then Mexico, at 2.1 million mt.

The largest importer of US met coal in July was Canada, at 476,378 mt; followed by Brazil, at 403,608 mt; followed by Turkey, at 243,653 mt.

Through July, Brazil has imported the most US met coal year-to-date, at 3.2 million mt; followed by India, at 2.9 million mt; then the Netherlands, at 2.3 million mt.

--Andrew Moore, andrew.moore@platts.com
--Edited by Keiron Greenhalgh, keiron.greenhalgh@platts.com

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