How much coal does Australia export?
Show me what Australia's coal exports have been worth over the last twenty years, who buys them, and how much of the recent swing was price rather than volume.
Australia exported $67.6 billion of coal, coke and briquettes in 2025-26 — about 12.7 per cent of everything it sells overseas as goods. That is close to half the $127.4 billion peak of 2022-23. Japan was the largest of the destinations shown, at $20.5 billion, ahead of India and China.
- Coal exports
- $67.6bn
- 2025-26 financial year, current prices · down 47% from the 2022-23 peak (Aard calculation)
- Share of merchandise exports
- 12.7%
- 2025-26 financial year, current prices · from 21.6% in 2022-23
- Largest destination shown
- Japan, $20.5bn
- 2025-26 financial year
- Coal export price index
- 54% below its June-quarter 2022 peak
- June quarter 2026, quarterly index, 2011-12 = 100.0, original · up 13.3% on a year earlier
1. A twenty-billion-dollar business that briefly became a hundred-billion-dollar one
Coal export earnings tripled in two years after 2020 and have halved again since. moved on a similar scale over the same period, and the next section charts them. This value series on its own separates neither price from volume nor one cause from another. Natural gas, whether or not liquefied — the second line — traced almost the same path.
Australian merchandise exports by commodity
Financial years, current prices, original. Sums of twelve monthly observations.
- Coal, coke and briquettes
- Natural gas, whether or not liquefied
- Other series
Export value · Financial year
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade in Goods, July 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. International Trade in Goods
Show the numbers
| Financial year | Coal, coke and briquettes | Natural gas, whether or not liquefied | Metalliferous ores and metal scrap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | $8.0bn | $1.5bn | $9.1bn |
| 1997-98 | $9.6bn | $1.6bn | $10.4bn |
| 1998-99 | $9.3bn | $1.4bn | $10.6bn |
| 1999-00 | $8.3bn | $1.9bn | $11.3bn |
| 2000-01 | $10.8bn | $2.7bn | $14.7bn |
| 2001-02 | $13.4bn | $2.6bn | $14.3bn |
| 2002-03 | $12.0bn | $2.6bn | $14.1bn |
| 2003-04 | $11.0bn | $2.2bn | $14.5bn |
| 2004-05 | $17.2bn | $3.2bn | $19.4bn |
| 2005-06 | $24.4bn | $4.4bn | $28.1bn |
| 2006-07 | $21.9bn | $5.2bn | $34.7bn |
| 2007-08 | $24.6bn | $5.9bn | $40.4bn |
| 2008-09 | $55.0bn | $10.1bn | $51.8bn |
| 2009-10 | $36.6bn | $7.8bn | $53.0bn |
| 2010-11 | $44.0bn | $10.3bn | $79.0bn |
| 2011-12 | $48.2bn | $11.9bn | $85.1bn |
| 2012-13 | $38.9bn | $14.3bn | $78.9bn |
| 2013-14 | $40.1bn | $16.3bn | $96.1bn |
| 2014-15 | $38.0bn | $16.9bn | $77.5bn |
| 2015-16 | $34.5bn | $16.6bn | $68.7bn |
| 2016-17 | $54.2bn | $22.3bn | $84.1bn |
| 2017-18 | $60.4bn | $30.9bn | $87.8bn |
| 2018-19 | $69.6bn | $49.7bn | $108bn |
| 2019-20 | $54.6bn | $47.5bn | $131bn |
| 2020-21 | $39.2bn | $30.5bn | $181bn |
| 2021-22 | $114bn | $70.6bn | $166bn |
| 2022-23 | $127bn | $92.2bn | $156bn |
| 2023-24 | $91.7bn | $68.6bn | $170bn |
| 2024-25 | $71.6bn | $64.6bn | $157bn |
| 2025-26 | $67.6bn | $55.4bn | $159bn |
2. Export prices moved much further than anything in the mines
The ABS measures separately from export values, in its quarterly export price index. In the June quarter of 2022 coal was fetching 271 per cent more than a year earlier; by the December quarter of 2023 it was 39 per cent cheaper than a year before that. The index was 54 per cent below its June-quarter 2022 peak by June 2026, against a 47 per cent fall in export value from 2022-23 to 2025-26. The two run on different periods, different commodity classes and different collections, so the difference between them does not measure a volume change.
Export prices: change on the same quarter a year earlier
Coal, and gas natural and manufactured. Quarterly, original, 2011-12 = 100.0.
- Coal, coke and briquettes
- Gas, natural and manufactured
Change on a year earlier · Quarter
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade Price Indexes, Australia, June 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. International Trade Price Indexes, Australia
Show the numbers
| Quarter | Coal, coke and briquettes | Gas, natural and manufactured |
|---|---|---|
| 2015-Q1 | -10.1% | 2.9% |
| 2015-Q2 | -0.80% | -21.2% |
| 2015-Q3 | 3.6% | -19.5% |
| 2015-Q4 | -6.4% | -28.0% |
| 2016-Q1 | -17.6% | -31.0% |
| 2016-Q2 | -15.8% | -26.6% |
| 2016-Q3 | -7.7% | -24.7% |
| 2016-Q4 | 70.1% | -13.0% |
| 2017-Q1 | 103% | 1.6% |
| 2017-Q2 | 90.1% | 35.1% |
| 2017-Q3 | 62.1% | 18.3% |
| 2017-Q4 | 2.3% | 4.9% |
| 2018-Q1 | -0.80% | 15.6% |
| 2018-Q2 | 8.5% | 18.8% |
| 2018-Q3 | 21.9% | 39.8% |
| 2018-Q4 | 16.0% | 54.6% |
| 2019-Q1 | 9.0% | 37.1% |
| 2019-Q2 | 2.2% | 1.6% |
| 2019-Q3 | -7.6% | -3.6% |
| 2019-Q4 | -24.0% | -13.3% |
| 2020-Q1 | -23.5% | -10.4% |
| 2020-Q2 | -24.7% | 1.2% |
| 2020-Q3 | -36.5% | -43.0% |
| 2020-Q4 | -24.9% | -40.4% |
| 2021-Q1 | -21.0% | -31.3% |
| 2021-Q2 | -2.1% | -15.2% |
| 2021-Q3 | 82.8% | 96.2% |
| 2021-Q4 | 175% | 162% |
| 2022-Q1 | 226% | 125% |
| 2022-Q2 | 271% | 105% |
| 2022-Q3 | 135% | 98.6% |
| 2022-Q4 | 42.5% | 46.2% |
| 2023-Q1 | 7.4% | 19.7% |
| 2023-Q2 | -35.2% | -9.4% |
| 2023-Q3 | -38.7% | -33.1% |
| 2023-Q4 | -25.8% | -31.0% |
| 2024-Q1 | -22.0% | -19.5% |
| 2024-Q2 | -14.2% | -6.1% |
| 2024-Q3 | -11.9% | -4.0% |
| 2024-Q4 | -23.7% | -2.1% |
| 2025-Q1 | -28.1% | -3.5% |
| 2025-Q2 | -26.2% | 0.10% |
| 2025-Q3 | -20.2% | -7.0% |
| 2025-Q4 | -14.5% | -16.3% |
| 2026-Q1 | -3.7% | -21.2% |
| 2026-Q2 | 13.3% | -14.7% |
3. Japan buys the most of the destinations shown; China left and came back
Japan was the largest destination in both 2018-19 and 2025-26, at $20.5 billion in the later year. China is the interesting column: worth $14.1 billion in 2018-19, it fell to $4.0 billion during the trade restrictions that began in late 2020, and is back to $10.2 billion. India, buying metallurgical coal for steel, took $10.4 billion in 2025-26, below its $11.6 billion in 2018-19. Vietnam is the largest increase among the destinations shown, from $1.8 billion to $3.7 billion.
Australian coal exports by destination
Financial years, current prices, original. The nine destinations shown are $62.2bn of the $67.6bn 2025-26 total.
- 2025-26
- 2018-19
Export value · Destination
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade in Goods, July 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. International Trade in Goods
Show the numbers
| Destination | 2025-26 | 2018-19 |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | $20.5bn | $19.3bn |
| India | $10.4bn | $11.6bn |
| China | $10.2bn | $14.1bn |
| Korea, Republic of | $7.4bn | $7.8bn |
| Taiwan | $5.1bn | $5.8bn |
| Vietnam | $3.7bn | $1.8bn |
| Netherlands | $2.3bn | $1.8bn |
| Indonesia | $1.4bn | $0.80bn |
| Malaysia | $1.2bn | $1.3bn |
4. Still one dollar in eight of everything Australia ships
Coal's share of merchandise exports reached 21.6 per cent in 2022-23, below the 23.8 per cent of 2008-09, and has settled back to 12.7 per cent. Gas has climbed from almost nothing to a tenth over the same period. Together the two fossil fuels are close to a quarter of Australia's goods exports. Shares are calculated by Aard from the ABS merchandise export values charted here.
Share of Australian merchandise exports
Financial years, current prices, original. Shares calculated by Aard.
- Coal, coke and briquettes
- Natural gas, whether or not liquefied
Share of total goods exports · Financial year
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade in Goods, July 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. International Trade in Goods
Show the numbers
| Financial year | Coal, coke and briquettes | Natural gas, whether or not liquefied |
|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | 10.1% | 1.9% |
| 1997-98 | 10.9% | 1.8% |
| 1998-99 | 10.8% | 1.7% |
| 1999-00 | 8.6% | 2.0% |
| 2000-01 | 9.1% | 2.2% |
| 2001-02 | 11.1% | 2.2% |
| 2002-03 | 10.4% | 2.3% |
| 2003-04 | 10.1% | 2.0% |
| 2004-05 | 13.6% | 2.5% |
| 2005-06 | 16.0% | 2.9% |
| 2006-07 | 13.0% | 3.1% |
| 2007-08 | 13.6% | 3.2% |
| 2008-09 | 23.8% | 4.4% |
| 2009-10 | 18.2% | 3.9% |
| 2010-11 | 17.9% | 4.2% |
| 2011-12 | 18.3% | 4.5% |
| 2012-13 | 15.8% | 5.8% |
| 2013-14 | 14.7% | 6.0% |
| 2014-15 | 14.9% | 6.6% |
| 2015-16 | 14.2% | 6.8% |
| 2016-17 | 18.6% | 7.7% |
| 2017-18 | 19.2% | 9.8% |
| 2018-19 | 18.7% | 13.3% |
| 2019-20 | 14.3% | 12.4% |
| 2020-21 | 9.9% | 7.7% |
| 2021-22 | 21.4% | 13.3% |
| 2022-23 | 21.6% | 15.6% |
| 2023-24 | 17.1% | 12.8% |
| 2024-25 | 14.0% | 12.6% |
| 2025-26 | 12.7% | 10.4% |
What to watch for
- These are values, not tonnages. ABS merchandise trade records what the goods were worth in current prices, so a rising line can mean higher prices, larger volumes or both. The ABS does not publish coal export volumes in this collection.
- Financial-year figures are the sum of twelve monthly observations in original terms. Months are not seasonally adjusted and the ABS revises them as customs documentation is amended.
- The price index and the value series are separate ABS collections. They are shown side by side deliberately and are not divided into one another: the export price index is not the deflator of the merchandise trade value series, so the quotient would not be a volume.
- The ABS publishes the export price index on an index reference period of 2011-12 = 100.0, though the Data API returns an empty BASE_PERIOD for the series, so the base has to be read from the methodology rather than from the response. It is an annually reweighted chained index and is not the deflator of the merchandise-trade value series. The chart is therefore the change on the same quarter a year earlier, and the peak-to-latest comparison in the text is a ratio of two points on the same index.
- SITC division 32 is coal, coke and briquettes together. Thermal coal for power stations and metallurgical coal for steelmaking are not separated at this level, and their prices move differently.
- Destination is the country goods were consigned to, which is not always where they were burned.
References
Data extracted . Reviewed 2026-09-15 by Aard Data Team. Each numbered entry is the publication that documents the figures; the calls beneath it are the ones the retrieval actually made, recovered from the authoring session’s own transcript.
- [1]Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade in Goods, July 2026Released 2026-09-03Vintage: Monthly, next release 1 October 2026. Original, seasonally adjusted and trend. Revised as customs data is amended; the most recent months revise most.Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade in Goods, July 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The call this page made · extracted 17 September 2026
ABS:MERCH_EXP(1.0.0)https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,MERCH_EXP,1.0.0/32+321+322+325+343+33+28+TOT.TOT.TOT.M?startPeriod=1988-07&format=csvfilewithlabels- 67.6 $bn · 2025-26 · Coal, coke and briquettes
32.TOT.TOT.M - 127.4 $bn · 2022-23 · Coal, coke and briquettes
32.TOT.TOT.M - 8 $bn · 1996-97 · Coal, coke and briquettes
32.TOT.TOT.M - 55.4 $bn · 2025-26 · Natural gas, whether or not liquefied
343.TOT.TOT.M - 92.2 $bn · 2022-23 · Natural gas, whether or not liquefied
343.TOT.TOT.M - 47.5 $bn · 2019-20 · Natural gas, whether or not liquefied
343.TOT.TOT.M - 1.5 $bn · 1996-97 · Natural gas, whether or not liquefied
343.TOT.TOT.M - 158.8 $bn · 2025-26 · Metalliferous ores and metal scrap
28.TOT.TOT.M - 12.7 % · 2025-26 · Coal share of merchandise exports
- 21.6 % · 2022-23 · Coal share of merchandise exports
- 10.4 % · 2025-26 · Gas share of merchandise exports
- 10.1 % · 1996-97 · Coal share of merchandise exports
- 1.9 % · 1996-97 · Gas share of merchandise exports
- 49.7 $bn · 2018-19 · Natural gas, whether or not liquefied
343.TOT.TOT.M
One monthly call covering the commodities and the TOT total alike, summed to financial years in original terms — months are not seasonally adjusted, and the ABS revises them as customs documentation is amended. The share series therefore needs no second call: numerator and denominator are in this response. Division 32 is coal, coke and briquettes and 343 is natural gas; the three-digit groups double-count against their division, which is why 32 rather than 321 is the coal figure. MERCH_EXP observations carry UNIT_MULT=3, thousands of dollars, where the companion ITGS dataflow carries UNIT_MULT=6. Mixing the two is a thousand-fold error and nothing in the data warns you. CORRECTION RECORD, 2026-09-17. The superseded record gave natural gas exports of $49.7bn for 2019-20. Re-running this record's own query against the ABS Data API and summing 343.TOT.TOT.M from monthly to financial years gives 2018-19 = $49.73bn and 2019-20 = $47.52bn, and the page's own chart plots it that way — the record was a year out and the hover card showed the reader the wrong year. Found by an independent review of the gas page and verified against the API before correcting.
- 67.6 $bn · 2025-26 · Coal, coke and briquettes
- The call this page made · extracted 15 September 2026
ABS:MERCH_EXP(1.0.0)https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,MERCH_EXP,1.0.0/32..TOT.M?startPeriod=2015-07&format=csvfilewithlabels- 20.5 $bn · 2025-26 · Japan
32.JPN.TOT.M - 19.3 $bn · 2018-19 · Japan
32.JPN.TOT.M - 14.1 $bn · 2018-19 · China
32.CHN.TOT.M - 4 $bn · 2020-21 · China
32.CHN.TOT.M - 10.2 $bn · 2025-26 · China
32.CHN.TOT.M - 1.2 $bn · 2025-26 · Malaysia
32.MYS.TOT.M
Commodity 32 against every destination country, which is what the empty COUNTRY_DEST position returns. Destination is the country the goods were consigned to, not necessarily where they were burned. Corrected 2026-09-16: an earlier note here called India the only large market larger on both comparisons. Against the two years the page charts, India is SMALLER — $11.6bn in 2018-19 against $10.4bn in 2025-26. The nine destinations charted sum to $62.2bn of the $67.6bn 2025-26 total; the residual $5.4bn is spread across destinations not shown and is disclosed on the chart. The selection starts at 2015-07, so it cannot support any claim about which country has bought the most 'for decades'. MERCH_EXP observations carry UNIT_MULT=3, thousands of dollars, where the companion ITGS dataflow carries UNIT_MULT=6. Mixing the two is a thousand-fold error and nothing in the data warns you.
- 20.5 $bn · 2025-26 · Japan
- [2]Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade Price Indexes, Australia, June 2026Released 2026-07-30Vintage: Quarterly. Export and import price indexes in Australian dollars, so they move with the exchange rate as well as with world prices.Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, International Trade Price Indexes, Australia, June 2026. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- The call this page made · extracted 15 September 2026
ABS:ITPI_EXP(1.0.0)https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,ITPI_EXP,1.0.0/1.8093751+8093750.Q?startPeriod=2015-Q1&format=csvfilewithlabels- 297.5 index · 2022-Q2 · Coal, coke and briquettes export price index
1.8093751.Q - 138.3 index · 2026-Q2 · Coal, coke and briquettes export price index
1.8093751.Q
MEASURE 1 is the index number. The ABS index reference period is 2011-12 = 100.0, stated in the International Trade Price Indexes methodology (https://www.abs.gov.au/methodologies/international-trade-price-indexes-australia-methodology/jun-2026: "The index reference period for each series continues to be 2011-12 = 100.0"). Corrected 2026-09-16: this record and the page previously said the ABS publishes NO reference base, on the strength of an empty BASE_PERIOD in the Data API response. The empty BASE_PERIOD is real and worth knowing; the conclusion drawn from it was wrong. 8093751 is SITC division 32, coal, coke and briquettes; 8093750 is division 34, gas, natural and manufactured — a broader class than the 343 group the export VALUE series uses, which is why the price and value series are shown side by side and never divided into one another.
- 297.5 index · 2022-Q2 · Coal, coke and briquettes export price index
- The call this page made · extracted 15 September 2026
ABS:ITPI_EXP(1.0.0)https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,ITPI_EXP,1.0.0/3.8093751+8093750.Q?startPeriod=2015-Q1&format=csvfilewithlabels- 271 % · 2022-Q2 · Coal, coke and briquettes, change on the same quarter a year earlier
3.8093751.Q - -39 % · 2023-Q4 · Coal, coke and briquettes, change on the same quarter a year earlier
3.8093751.Q - 13.3 % · 2026-Q2 · Coal, coke and briquettes, change on the same quarter a year earlier
3.8093751.Q - -10.1 % · 2015-Q1 · Coal, coke and briquettes, change on the same quarter a year earlier
3.8093751.Q - -14.7 % · 2026-Q2 · Gas, natural and manufactured, change on the same quarter a year earlier
3.8093750.Q - 2.9 % · 2015-Q1 · Gas, natural and manufactured, change on the same quarter a year earlier
3.8093750.Q
MEASURE 3 is the percentage change from the corresponding quarter of the previous year, which is what the page charts — it needs no reference base. The index itself has one — 2011-12 = 100.0 per the ABS methodology — even though the Data API returns an empty BASE_PERIOD. Corrected 2026-09-16. 8093751 is SITC division 32, coal, coke and briquettes; 8093750 is division 34, gas, natural and manufactured — a broader class than the 343 group the export VALUE series uses, which is why the price and value series are shown side by side and never divided into one another.
- 271 % · 2022-Q2 · Coal, coke and briquettes, change on the same quarter a year earlier