Chinese imports of coking coal struck a nine-month high in September at 7.25 million mt, up 15% from August and three times higher than September 2012, figures released by the General Administration of Customs showed Tuesday.

Australia was by far the largest contributor to Chinese September imports, having shipped 2.62 million mt, up 5.7% on the month and almost sixfold on the year.

Mongolia was the second-largest contributor, with 1.90 million mt, up 127% from August and 90% from September 2012, followed closely by Canada with 1.26 million mt, up 41% month on month and 182% on the year.

Following on were Russia (744,388 mt), the US (402,658 m), Indonesia (104,950 mt), Mozambique (88,000 mt) and New Zealand(63,378 mt).

The month-on-month increase in September import volumes correlates with an increase in spot coking coal prices in preceding months. These rose 3.5% in July and more than 10% in August, the two months during which most September arrivals were likely to have been booked, Platts data shows. This is for premium low-volatile hard coking coal.

In contrast, spot prices in July and August 2012 had fallen 19% and 12%, respectively, coinciding with much lower volumes imported into China in September 2012 than in September 2013.