Key China border crossing Ganqimaodu set a new high in Mongolian coal imports last year, driven by efforts between the two countries to streamline truck transport.

Coal shipments from Mongolia into China through the port doubled to a record 36.51 million tonnes last year, accounting for more than 1/3 of all Mongolian coal imports.

Ganqimaodu is the largest road coal port in China bordering with Mongolia. In 2023, the port received a total of 272,520 coal trucks, soaring 98.8% from a year earlier, Sxcoal's data showed. That's an average of over 900 trucks per day.

However, extreme weather hampered coal shipments towards the port late last year. In December, only 26,143 trucks made it through over 26 operating days, or a daily average of 1,005 trucks, down 5.1% from November.

The decline was strikingly steeper in December 14-16, as heavy snow and winds curtailed road transport to as low as 500-600 trucks per day.

The number of arriving trucks has since then bounced back to around 1,000 in 2024. Over January 1-18, 16,803 trucks made it through the port in total, or 1,120 trucks each day. The number even jumped to a four-month high of 1,400 on January 11, which was the fourth highest since the daily traffic was recorded in 2018.

Demand has been lackluster at Ganqimaodu though in recent days, according to market sources. While Chinese steel mills have an intention to bulk up inventories ahead of the Chinese New Year, the overall purchases remained light. That could see arrivals moderate going forward amid elevated stocks at the port.

(Writing by Alex Guo  Editing by Harry Huo)
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