July 5, 2022 - According to S&P's Commodities at Sea database, Russian seaborne coal supplies to China in the first 28 days of June increased by 55 percent to 6.2 million tons from the same time prior year. Supplies increased by 20 percent in comparison to the same month previous year to 5.5 million tons in May.

“Despite lower demand and higher domestic coal production, China has been buying significantly [more] Russian coal since May 2022,” according to Pranay Shukla, associate director of S&P Global Market Intelligence, who spoke to CNBC.” “This is because Russia has been offering very steep discounts on prevailing international coal prices.”

Shukla claimed that rigorous coronavirus shutdown rules and decreased demand resulted in a decrease in overall coal shipments into mainland China.

According to statistics, China is Russia's biggest coal customer, having imported over 50 million tons of the product from Russia's Far East last year for a total of USD7.4 billion. Approximately 15 percent of China's overall imports came from Russia, which was China's second-largest supplier after Indonesia.