With last month's data showing coal imports from January to August at 104.4 million tonnes, that would indicate import for the month of September was 15.6 million tonnes, down 5.97 percent from 16.59 million tonnes recorded in August and much lower than traders' expectations of some 20 million tonnes."Imports for September typically rise because buyers would rush to bring in shipments ahead of the week-long national holiday. If it was really 16 million tonnes, that would be pretty bearish for the market," said a Singapore-based coal trader."Looking ahead, imports for October could fall quite substantially because of the holidays and also because China's import appetite had weakened in September."It is unclear if the customs agency had rounded down the Jan-Sept import figure and it does not typically provide a monthly figure for coal during the release of preliminary trade data.But using the 1.9 percent year-on-year increase provided by the Customs agency would indicate total imports for the first nine months of 2011 would be 124.18 million tonnes, which would bring the monthly number closer to traders' expectations.The customs agency could not be reached for comment.
