Coal Exports by Country 2025

Coal provides a valuable source of energy for many countries. When those nations cannot meet their energy needs with domestic coal, they import it from another place, likely one of the top coal exporters in the world.

Coal Applications

Coal comes from carbon deposits, typically found underground. The carbon in coal makes it a useful component in multiple industrial applications, especially energy production and manufacturing.

The multiple applications of coal make it a popular commodity for trade. To produce energy, a coal-burning plant will burn one of three types of coal to create steam to produce power. These three types of energy coal include lignite, bituminous, and subbituminous.

Outside of power production, coal can contribute to making steel, cement, tar, carbon fiber, medicines, and many other products.

Top Coal Exporters

The most recent data on coal exports comes from 2022. In that year, the top exporter of coal was Indonesia, which sent out 469.1 million tons. Australia ranked second with coal exports of 364.6 million tons.

Indonesian Coal Export Concerns

At the beginning of 2022, Indonesia announced the suspension of its foreign exports of coal for the duration of January. The majority (60%) of Indonesia’s power comes from burning coal, and at the start of 2022, the nation’s power company did not have enough reserves available to ensure power for everyone in the country. Authorities cite local coal miners failing to sell to local energy producers during the previous year as a source for the supply deficit. Most of Indonesia’s exported coal in 2021 went to Japan, China, South Korea, and India.

By the end of 2022, however, the nation made up for the brief stoppage of exporting coal and sent out 469.1 million metric tons of coal. It also set a goal of exporting more than half a billion metric tons of coal in 2023.

Exporters of the Least Amounts of Coal

While 120 countries don’t export any coal, among those that do, 19 countries, most of them located in Africa and South America, exported only about 1 metric ton each, which is practically next to nothing in the global arena.