India’s imports of coal from South Africa fell 29 percent in April from a year earlier while Chinese purchases rose, according to mjunction Services Ltd. South Africa supplied 1.21 million metric tons of the fuel last month to India from a year earlier, the Kolkata-based trader said in an e-mail. That was 18 percent lower than the 1.48 million in March. China’s purchases rose 12 percent to 504,000 tons in April from March, and none in a year earlier period, it said. Coal prices at Richards Bay Terminal, Africa’s biggest export facility for the fuel, rose to the highest in almost a month, gaining 0.3 percent to $123.93 a ton from May 3 to May 6, the highest since the week ended April 15, data from Petersfield, U.K.-based researcher IHS McCloskey showed. They climbed 45 percent in April from a year earlier, and 1.6 percent from March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Shipments from Richards Bay terminal fell to 4.81 million tons last month from 5.36 million in March, according to the statement on the port website. India accounts for a quarter of the exports. Asia’s imports of coal from South Africa dropped 15 percent in April from March to 3.13 million tons, mjunction said. Shipments to Asia were down 17 percent from a year earlier. Supplies to Atlantic-area nations rose 1.1 percent in April to 1.68 million from March, and gained 71 percent from a year earlier, the online trading portal said. To contact the reporter on this story: Dinakar Sethuraman in Singapore at dinakar@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alexander Kwiatkowski at akwiatkowsk2@bloomberg.net

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