According to Yonhap:
North Korea’s exports of anthracite coal to China grew 15.5 percent in 2013 from a year earlier, data showed Friday.
North Korea shipped a total of US$1.37 billion worth of anthracite to China last year, compared with $1.19 billion sold to the neighbor a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea International Trade Association.
North Korea exported only $162.6 million worth of the coal to China In 2007, but the figure has grown every year since then, according to the data.
The total anthracite exported to China last year was measured at 16.5 million tons, up 39.7 percent from what was exported in 2012, the data also showed, indicating that the North sold the coal to China at cheaper prices last year.
In December alone last year, the North shipped $118.06 million worth of anthracite, almost the same amount as November’s $121.45 million.
This means North Korea continued anthracite exports to China after executing leader Kim Jong-un’s once-powerful uncle Jang Song-thaek in early December for allegedly attempting to overthrow the regime and committing anti-state crimes, including selling North Korean natural resources abroad at excessively low prices.
North Korea’s anthracite exports are one of its major income sources and China is virtually the only destination for the shipments.
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N. Korea’s coal exports to China up 15.1 pct in 2013
Yonhap
2014-1-24
