US thermal coal exports rose from year-earlier levels for a sixth month with gains in shipments to some countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America continuing to outpace declines in volumes heading to Europe.

Roughly 4.2mn short tons (3.8mn metric tonnes) of steam and anthracite coal moved out of the US to international customers during the month, up from 3.87mn st a year earlier, preliminary data from the US Commerce Department show.

Trade flows generally continued to shift away from Europe, where volumes headed to that continent fell from year earlier levels to 578,828st from 982,511st. France, Norway and Croatia were the only countries on the continent destined in February to get more US thermal coal than they had a year earlier. Exports to the largest entry point in Europe — the Netherlands — fell from year-earlier levels for an eighth straight month to 335,122st, the lowest since July 2023, amid still-elevated stockpiles and a relatively mild winter.

For the fifth month in a row, US steam coal exports to Asia and Africa topped shipments to Europe.

India and Japan were the top two destinations for US thermal coal in February, taking 1.44mn st and 521,583st, respectively. Exports to both countries were higher in February than they had been in the same month of 2023, but the gain in shipments to India was a marginal 0.6pc as industrial users at the end of last year and early 2024 had less interest in making spot high-sulfur coal purchases because petroleum coke was a cheaper fuel.

In addition, some of the increase for Japan may be a result of timing. US thermal coal exports to Japan in January were at a nine-month low of 151,886st.

But Asia overall remained the top destination for US thermal coal, with a total of 2.59mn st headed to the region. Both bituminous and sub-bituminous steam coal volumes to Asia rose.

Elsewhere, thermal coal exports to Morocco jumped by 41pc on the year prior to 321,507st. Shipments to Egypt also increased, which, when combined with the volumes headed to Morocco, made Africa the second-largest destination for thermal coal. A total of 600,665st of US steam coal was headed to the continent in February, up from 476,346st a year earlier.

Steam coal exports to Central and South America also rose, led by gains in volumes to Brazil, Argentina and the Dominican Republic.

In addition, US metallurgical coal exports rose in February and, when combined with thermal coal shipments and anthracite, bought overall US coal volumes to a four-month high of 9.12mn st.

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