At least four cargoes of South African coal were sold back to the original sellers by Chinese buyers during the past month, all coming from Europe.
Indian demand for South African coal is set to drop, threatening sharply lower prices, as iron makers there cut back, hit by falling prices in the steel market they supply and rising costs for imported coal. India’s sponge iron makers, who use coal as part of a process to make iron from ore, have relied increasingly on imported South African coal in recent years.