Subbituminous Coal Imports by Country

Subbituminous coal imports by country measure the amount of subbituminous coal imported in each country, measured in million metric tons (Mmt) per year. Subbituminous coal ranks between lignite and bituminous coal and is used primarily as fuel for steam-electric power generation. The statistics are based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) International Energy Statistics. The table covers 144 countries with a reported 2024 value and includes data from 2019 to 2024. The world total stood at 331.5 Mmt in 2024, up from 322.5 Mmt in 2023.

The map highlights where subbituminous coal imports are most concentrated in 2024; the table below holds the full 2019-2024 series. This is not just a ranking — the paragraphs below explain what the numbers reveal that the table alone does not.

Subbituminous Coal Imports by Country

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#	Country	2024 (Mmt)
1	India IN	115.02
2	China CN	40.41
3	Philippines PH	37.61
4	Malaysia MY	34.87
5	Vietnam VN	19.38
6	Bangladesh BD	15.81
7	Thailand TH	12.15
8	Taiwan TW	10.14
9	Japan JP	9.49
10	Netherlands NL	8.83
11	Cambodia KH	6.1
12	Germany DE	5.66
13	Poland PL	3.03
14	South Korea KR	1.99
15	Nepal NP	1.19
16	New Zealand NZ	0.94
17	United States US	0.87
18	Puerto Rico PR	0.85
19	Uzbekistan UZ	0.79
20	Pakistan PK	0.79
21	Indonesia ID	0.77
22	Canada CA	0.63
23	United Arab Emirates AE	0.57
24	Singapore SG	0.48
25	France FR	0.36
26	Ethiopia ET	0.29
27	Slovakia SK	0.2
28	Romania RO	0.19
29	Ireland IE	0.18
30	Spain ES	0.16
31	Oman OM	0.16
32	Serbia RS	0.15
33	Italy IT	0.12
34	Sweden SE	0.11
35	Ukraine UA	0.11
36	Egypt EG	0.1
37	Rwanda RW	0.09
38	Brazil BR	0.09
39	Bosnia and Herzegovina BA	0.09
40	Australia AU	0.09
41	Kuwait KW	0.08
42	Eswatini SZ	0.08
43	Jordan JO	0.08
44	Hungary HU	0.06
45	Bhutan BT	0.05
46	Croatia HR	0.04
47	United Kingdom GB	0.04
48	Türkiye TR	0.04
49	Austria AT	0.03
50	Ghana GH	0.03
51	Lesotho LS	0.02
52	Cyprus CY	0.02
53	Kyrgyzstan KG	0.01
54	Slovenia SI	0.01
55	Latvia LV	0.01
56	Syria SY	0.01
57	Switzerland CH	0.01
58	Saudi Arabia SA	0.01
59	Djibouti DJ	0.01
60	Bulgaria BG	0
61	Russia RU	0
62	Georgia GE	0
63	Qatar QA	0
64	Bahrain BH	0
65	Burkina Faso BF	0
66	Botswana BW	0
67	Zimbabwe ZW	0
68	Afghanistan AF	0
69	Chile CL	0
70	Barbados BB	0
71	Angola AO	0
72	Malawi MW	0
73	Lebanon LB	0
74	Grenada GD	0
75	Azerbaijan AZ	0
76	Kazakhstan KZ	0
77	Antigua and Barbuda AG	0
78	Fiji FJ	0
79	Colombia CO	0
80	Cameroon CM	0
81	Belize BZ	0
82	Madagascar MG	0
83	Uruguay UY	0
84	Albania AL	0
85	Argentina AR	0
86	Armenia AM	0
87	Aruba AW	0
88	Belarus BY	0
89	Belgium BE	0
90	Bermuda BM	0
91	Bolivia BO	0
92	Myanmar MM	0
93	Burundi BI	0
94	Comoros KM	0
95	DR Congo CD	0
96	Cook Islands CK	0
97	Costa Rica CR	0
98	Ivory Coast CI	0
99	Cuba CU	0
100	Dominican Republic DO	0
101	Ecuador EC	0
102	El Salvador SV	0
103	Estonia EE	0
104	Faroe Islands FO	0
105	French Polynesia PF	0
106	Greenland GL	0
107	Guatemala GT	0
108	Guinea GN	0
109	Guinea-Bissau GW	0
110	Guyana GY	0
111	Honduras HN	0
112	Iraq IQ	0
113	Israel IL	0
114	Laos LA	0
115	Liberia LR	0
116	Libya LY	0
117	Lithuania LT	0
118	Macau MO	0
119	Maldives MV	0
120	Malta MT	0
121	Mexico MX	0
122	Moldova MD	0
123	Mongolia MN	0
124	Mozambique MZ	0
125	Namibia NA	0
126	Niger NE	0
127	North Macedonia MK	0
128	Panama PA	0
129	Papua New Guinea PG	0
130	Paraguay PY	0
131	Peru PE	0
132	Portugal PT	0
133	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines VC	0
134	Seychelles SC	0
135	Somalia SO	0
136	South Sudan SS	0
137	Sri Lanka LK	0
138	Sudan SD	0
139	Tanzania TZ	0
140	Bahamas BS	0
141	Trinidad and Tobago TT	0
142	Tunisia TN	0
143	Venezuela VE	0
144	Zambia ZM	0

Analysis: India alone accounted for about 35 percent of the world total in 2024, and India and China together for about 47 percent. The top three accounted for about 58 percent, the top five for about 75 percent, and the top ten for about 92 percent. India's subbituminous coal was about 2.8 times that of China, the second-largest importer — a gap that explains much of the global structure.

Who Leads Subbituminous Coal Imports?

Data: India (115.0 Mmt) was the largest importer in 2024, ahead of China (40.412 Mmt). The next largest were Philippines (37.613 Mmt), Malaysia (34.873 Mmt), Vietnam (19.378 Mmt), Bangladesh (15.813 Mmt), Thailand (12.154 Mmt). Analysis: The top five alone — India, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam — already make up about 75 percent of world total, while the remaining 139 countries together account for less than 25 percent. Context: This concentration means that shifts in just a few countries drive the world total.

Where Are Subbituminous Coal Imports Concentrated?

Analysis: The top ten accounted for about 92 percent of global subbituminous coal imports in 2024, leaving less than 8 percent for the other 134 countries. In Asia, India was by far the largest importer, followed by China, the Philippines and Malaysia. Vietnam and Bangladesh were also among the larger importers in the region. In Europe, the Netherlands and Germany were among the largest importers. Context: The concentration of imports among a relatively small number of countries means that changes in demand in major importing markets can have a substantial effect on global trade volumes.

What Changed Most Recently? (2023-2024)

Analysis: Malaysia saw the largest increase, rising from 24.57 to 34.873 Mmt (up 10.303 Mmt, about 41.9 percent). Philippines (+4.335 Mmt) and Bangladesh (+3.719 Mmt) also rose. The sharpest decline was India (122.9 to 115.0 Mmt, down 7.864 Mmt). Overall the world total rose by 8.987 Mmt (+2.8 percent) to 331.5 Mmt. Context: Year-to-year moves like these show whether growth is broad-based or driven by a single country.

How Has Subbituminous Coal Evolved Since 2019?

Analysis: The world total increased from 314.3 Mmt in 2019 to 331.5 Mmt in 2024, although it fell to a low of 291.7 Mmt in 2021. India remained the world's largest importer, but its imports declined from 120.2 to 115.0 Mmt, while China's imports increased from 35.829 to 40.412 Mmt. Context: Comparing 2019-2024 shows how the distribution of global imports has changed over time, with India remaining dominant while several other Asian importers expanded their volumes.

Subbituminous Coal in Context

Subbituminous coal ranks between lignite and bituminous coal and has a lower energy density than bituminous coal. It is often used for power generation near producing regions. Concentration at this level means supply and trade are tied to a handful of economies. The EIA reports subbituminous coal separately from other coal types in its coal statistics.

Subbituminous Coal Imports by Country

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#	Country	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
1	India	120.15	96.25	70.33	110.19	122.89	115.02
2	China	35.83	37.2	58.25	52.1	42.16	40.41
3	Philippines	21.32	24.87	26.9	28.21	33.28	37.61
4	Malaysia	31.85	32.68	32.46	23.46	24.57	34.87
5	Vietnam	13.07	17.2	17.02	17.29	20.57	19.38
6	Bangladesh	6.06	7.16	5.1	4.52	12.09	15.81
7	Thailand	13.01	15.38	15.03	12.28	10.76	12.15
8	Taiwan	11.75	11.66	11.02	11.88	10.32	10.14
9	Japan	8.48	8.17	7.9	8.39	7.3	9.49
10	Netherlands	13.18	10.12	15.44	11.47	10.22	8.83
11	Cambodia	2.83	3.31	2.59	2.26	4.35	6.1
12	Germany	9.81	7.61	8.53	8.09	5.15	5.66
13	Poland	2.7	1.71	1.28	3.82	2.6	3.03
14	South Korea	1.87	1.83	2.04	2.02	1.89	1.99
15	Nepal	0.65	0.77	0.5	0.83	0.87	1.19
16	New Zealand	0.96	1.04	1.81	0.69	0.24	0.94
17	United States	1.82	1.95	1.78	1.54	1.14	0.87
18	Puerto Rico	0	0	0	0	0.1	0.85
19	Uzbekistan	0.53	0.86	0.7	0.35	0.67	0.79
20	Pakistan	2.78	2.8	3.29	3.33	3.03	0.79
21	Indonesia	0.14	0.34	0.49	2.05	1.04	0.77
22	Canada	0.92	1.32	0.73	0.41	0.09	0.63
23	United Arab Emirates	0.17	0.06	0.1	0.21	0.45	0.57
24	Singapore	0.73	0.69	0.74	0.58	0.59	0.48
25	France	1.62	1.4	1.15	1.34	0.59	0.36
26	Ethiopia	0.6	0.53	0.46	0.3	0.54	0.29
27	Slovakia	0.18	0.16	0.18	0.15	0.37	0.2
28	Romania	0.47	0.15	0.19	0.32	0.27	0.19
29	Ireland	0.17	0.19	0.17	0.16	0.2	0.18
30	Spain	3.02	0.69	0.58	1.42	0.92	0.16
31	Oman	0	0	0	0.02	0.03	0.16
32	Serbia	0.01	0.02	0.06	0.18	0.18	0.15
33	Italy	0.45	0.08	0	0.1	0.07	0.12
34	Sweden	0.06	0.07	0.05	0.09	0.03	0.11
35	Ukraine	0.64	0.08	0.12	0.2	0.04	0.11
36	Egypt	0.02	0.05	0.01	0	0.02	0.1
37	Rwanda	0	0	0	0.06	0.09	0.09
38	Brazil	0.42	0.09	0.13	0.08	0.08	0.09
39	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0.08	0.08	0.12	0.15	0.08	0.09
40	Australia	0.07	0.11	0.05	0.12	0.06	0.09
41	Kuwait	0	0	0	0.01	0.09	0.08
42	Eswatini	0.11	0.11	0.18	0.07	0.11	0.08
43	Jordan	0.1	0.2	0.17	0.29	0.11	0.08
44	Hungary	0.22	0.12	0.1	0.09	0.07	0.06
45	Bhutan	0.02	0.04	0.04	0.05	0.04	0.05
46	Croatia	0.03	0.06	0.06	0.08	0.03	0.04
47	United Kingdom	0	0	0	0	0	0.04
48	Türkiye	0	0	0	0.03	0.01	0.04
49	Austria	2.26	1.91	2.09	1.24	0.67	0.03
50	Ghana	0.05	0.05	0.08	0.05	0.03	0.03
51	Lesotho	0	0	0	0.02	0.02	0.02
52	Cyprus	0	0	0	0.02	0	0.02
53	Kyrgyzstan	0.29	0.42	0.3	0.28	0.64	0.01
54	Slovenia	0.01	0.01	0	0	0.4	0.01
55	Latvia	0	0	0	0.07	0.02	0.01
56	Syria	0	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
57	Switzerland	0	0	0	0.02	0.03	0.01
58	Saudi Arabia	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.01
59	Djibouti	0	0	0	0	0	0.01
60	Bulgaria	0	0	0.01	0.1	0.07	0
61	Russia	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.33	0	0
62	Georgia	0	0	0	0	0	0
63	Qatar	0	0	0	0	0	0
64	Bahrain	0	0	0	0	0	0
65	Burkina Faso	0	0	0	0	0	0
66	Botswana	0	0	0	0	0	0
67	Zimbabwe	0	0	0	0	0	0
68	Afghanistan	0	0	0.01	0	0	0
69	Chile	0	0.07	0.06	0.08	0	0
70	Barbados	0	0	0	0	0	0
71	Angola	0	0	0	0	0	0
72	Malawi	0	0	0	0	0	0
73	Lebanon	0.05	0.05	0.04	0.02	0	0
74	Grenada	0	0	0	0	0	0
75	Azerbaijan	0	0	0	0	0	0
76	Kazakhstan	0	0	0	0	0.02	0
77	Antigua and Barbuda	0	0	0	0	0	0
78	Fiji	0	0	0	0	0	0
79	Colombia	0	0	0	0	0	0
80	Cameroon	0	0	0	0	0	0
81	Belize	0	0	0	0	0	0
82	Madagascar	0	0	0	0	0	0
83	Uruguay	0	0	0	0	0	0
84	Albania	0.02	0	0	0	0	0
85	Argentina	0	0	0	0	0	0
86	Armenia	0	0	0	0.03	0	0
87	Aruba	0	0	0	0	0	0
88	Belarus	0.59	0.81	0.73	0.5	0.01	0
89	Belgium	0.09	0.09	0.09	0.08	0	0
90	Bermuda	0	0	0	0	0	0
91	Bolivia	0	0	0	0	0	0
92	Myanmar	0.15	0.16	0.06	0.03	0	0
93	Burundi	0	0	0	0	0	0
94	Comoros	0	0	0	0	0	0
95	DR Congo	0	0	0	0	0	0
96	Cook Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0
97	Costa Rica	0	0	0	0	0	0
98	Ivory Coast	0	0	0	0	0	0
99	Cuba	0	0	0	0	0	0
100	Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0
101	Ecuador	0	0	0	0	0	0
102	El Salvador	0	0	0	0	0	0
103	Estonia	0	0	0	0	0	0
104	Faroe Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0
105	French Polynesia	0	0	0	0	0	0
106	Greenland	0	0	0	0	0	0
107	Guatemala	0	0	0	0	0	0
108	Guinea	0	0	0	0	0	0
109	Guinea-Bissau	0	0	0	0	0	0
110	Guyana	0	0	0	0	0	0
111	Honduras	0	0	0	0	0	0
112	Iraq	0	0	0	0	0	0
113	Israel	0	0	0	0	0	0
114	Laos	0	0	0	0.01	0.02	0
115	Liberia	0	0	0	0.08	0.08	0
116	Libya	0	0	0	0	0	0
117	Lithuania	0	0	0	0.09	0.02	0
118	Macau	0	0	0	0	0	0
119	Maldives	0	0	0	0	0	0
120	Malta	0	0	0	0	0	0
121	Mexico	1.47	0.23	0.04	0.06	0	0
122	Moldova	0.01	0	0	0	0	0
123	Mongolia	0	0	0	0	0	0
124	Mozambique	0	0	0	0	0	0
125	Namibia	0	0	0	0	0	0
126	Niger	0	0.01	0.02	0	0	0
127	North Macedonia	0.16	0.14	0.07	0.24	0.01	0
128	Panama	0	0	0	0.01	0	0
129	Papua New Guinea	0	0	0	0	0	0
130	Paraguay	0	0	0	0	0	0
131	Peru	0	0	0	0	0	0
132	Portugal	0	0	0	0	0	0
133	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	0	0	0	0	0	0
134	Seychelles	0	0	0	0	0	0
135	Somalia	0	0	0	0	0	0
136	South Sudan	0	0	0	0	0	0
137	Sri Lanka	0.22	0.11	0.23	0.24	0.09	0
138	Sudan	0	0	0	0	0	0
139	Tanzania	0	0	0	0	0	0
140	Bahamas	0	0	0	0	0	0
141	Trinidad and Tobago	0	0	0	0	0	0
142	Tunisia	0	0	0	0	0	0
143	Venezuela	0	0	0	0	0	0
144	Zambia	0	0	0	0	0	0

Methodology

The statistics are based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) International Energy Statistics. Values represent annual subbituminous coal imports in million metric tons (Mmt). Where no value is available, the cell is left empty. A value of 0 indicates that the source reports zero. The sum of individually listed countries may differ slightly from the reported world total due to rounding. This page covers subbituminous coal imports only and does not include other coal types, which are reported separately in the source.