Thermal coal: Movement
Australia and Indonesia ship it, Asia buys it
What this tab covers How it flows between countries: the largest bilateral trade routes drawn on a world map, 2024 UN Comtrade export and import values with the top exporters and importers by share, plus shipping routes, chokepoints and trade restrictions.Coal exports (HS 2701, which mixes thermal and coking grades) were worth $129 billion in 2024. Australia earned 44% of the value, helped by premium coking coal, and Indonesia 24%, mostly lower-grade thermal coal for Asia. China, India and Japan took 59% of imports. Seaborne trade grew from 2% of world output in 1960 to 17% in 2013 (Radetzki & Wårell), yet most coal never leaves its home country. Policy shocks are frequent: China's informal ban on Australian coal from 2020, Indonesia's brief export ban in January 2022 and the EU ban on Russian coal from August 2022.
Main trade routes, 2024
Chart: World map of the largest trade flows
Exporter (size = share of world exports) Importer (share of world imports) Largest bilateral flows (width = value) Shipping chokepoint UN Comtrade 2024, reported exports by the top four exporters of each traded form to their partners (US$). Bubbles: shares of reported world exports and imports for the main traded form. Hover a line or circle for values.