SINGAPORE: China’s customs department has issued an official order telling trading companies to return their North Korean coal cargoes, said a trading source at Dandong Chengtai Trade Co., the biggest buyer of coal from the isolated country.

Following repeated missile tests that drew international criticism, China banned all imports of North Korean coal on Feb 26, cutting off the country’s most important export product.

The source at Dandong Chengtai said the company had 600,000 tonnes of North Korean coal sitting at various ports, and a total of two million tonnes was stranded at various Chinese ports, waiting to be returned.Neither Dandong Chen­gtai (former Dandong Zhicheng Metallic Material Co., Ltd) nor Chinese authorities were available for official comment.

Shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon, a financial markets information and analytics platform, shows at least half a dozen general cargo vessels have recently taken coal out of China, mostly from the ports of Weihai and Peng Lai, and returned fully laden to North Korea.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2017