THE United States shipped a record 6.1 million tonnes of thermal coal – used mainly for power generation and in industrial boilers – to Africa during the first eight months of 2024, ship-tracking data from Kpler shows.
That total was 83% more than during the same months in 2023, and ensured the United States was Africa’s top thermal coal supplier so far in 2024, accounting for a record 64% share of total African thermal coal imports.In conjunction with 11.1 million tonnes of exports to Asia –the top US market for coal – the shipments to Africa helped lift total US coal exports to the third highest on record over the first eight months of the year.
