Coal imports in China's Taiwan in August ended a two-month decline, rebounding from July's record low since at least 2023, preliminary customs data showed. The year-on-year drop also narrowed notably.

The August imports reached 4.94 million tonnes, 16.54% higher than the month-ago 4.24 million tonnes and diving 2.79% from the previous year's 5.08 million tonnes, data showed.

The total import value was $692.42 million in the month, advancing 22.47% year on year (YoY) and 20.45% month on month (MoM). The average import price was calculated at $140.09/t, growing 25.98% YoY and 3.35% MoM, data showed.

Australia remained the largest source of coal imports to Taiwan in August, with shipments totaling 2.44 million tonnes (33.20% YoY, 7.54% MoM), which took up about 49% of the total imports. This was followed by Indonesia at 1.03 million tonnes (-40.75% YoY, -20.64% MoM).

Shipments from Russia surged by 124.91% YoY to 663,400 tonnes, climbing 99.02% MoM, data showed.

By type, the bulk of Taiwan's coal imports was bituminous coal in August at 4.28 million tonnes, up 8.14% YoY and 32.33% MoM; imports of other coal stood at 658,900 tonnes, retreating 41.27% YoY and 34.09% MoM.

In August, Taiwan imported 4,480 tonnes of coke, sliding 66.24% YoY but hiking 132.51% MoM, with the import value at $1.09 million, falling 63.33% YoY but rising 49.86% MoM.

Taiwan imported 34.78 million tonnes of coal in the first eight months, down 2.18% YoY. The total value amounted to $4.58 billion, rising 9.30% YoY. Coke imports during January-August slid 31.35% YoY to 67,516 tonnes.

Taiwan also imported 2.35 million tonnes of LNG in August, increasing 22.06% YoY but down 5.14% MoM, with the value gaining 87.66% YoY but down 1.68% MoM to $1.93 billion. LNG imports in the first eight months of the year climbed 5.64% YoY to 16.05 million tonnes.