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China stricter trace elements inspection may impact coal imports

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Publish time: 22nd December, 2014      Source: www.cnchemicals.com
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Chinese traders and overseas miners are likely to face more challenges in trading coal into the world’s top consumer of the fossil fuel, primarily arising from stricter trace elements requirements in new coal quality standards to be effective from January 1.Recently, relevant authorities have started to inspect trace elements of imported cargoes in line with the new standards, in a move to estimate the potential effect, trade sources said.From January 1, imported coal would not allowed to be unloaded at Chinese ports, before getting the CIQ certificate from local branches of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), China’s quality watchdog."If their trace elements fail to meet requirements, customs clearance will be prohibited and the cargoes would be reshipped back to origin countries," one trader said.The fluorine and mercury contents are most likely to fail, said sources with the AQSIQ’s Fujian branch, which found 7.55% or eight cargoes exceeded the fluorine threshold of 200 μg/g, some of which even from large mines in Indonesia and Australia.On a national level, 10.04% of inspected cargoes surpassed the fluorine threshold of 200 μg/g, while 7.11% exceeded mercury threshold of 0.6 μg/g.At Rizhao port in eastern Shandong province, nearly 14% or 48 vessels loaded with North Korean anthracite coal were found unqualified in mercury content, said one source familiar with the matter."In 2015, Chinese end users may have to find alternative for Korean anthracite coal, as majority of the current imports are not up to standards," said one insider.Traders have become more prudent in booking January-loading imported coal, worrying about customs refusal on cargoes failing to meet trace elements threshold.China in mid-September issued new quality standards on commercial coal, either domestic or imported, specifying standards on trace elements as follows: mercury below 0.6 μg/g, arsenic below 80 μg/g, phosphorus below 0.15%, chlorine below 0.3% and fluorine below 200 μg/g.