The NSW Minerals Council has responded cautiously to reports China is relaxing its ban on Australian coal imports as new figures show shipments from Newcastle falling 17 per cent last year.
The Minerals Council said reports Beijing would allow three government-backed utilities and a leading steel maker to import Australian coal were "too speculative" for it to comment on.
A Reuters report out of Singapore said China's National Development and Reform Commission had summoned China Datang Corp, China Huaneng Group, China Energy Investment Corporation and China Baowu Steel Group on Tuesday to discuss resuming coal imports from Australia.
Newcastle, the world's largest coal exporter, has not shipped coal to China since Beijing banned Australian imports in 2020. China stopped taking Australian wine at the same time.
The coal industry says it has found new customers in Asia to compensate for the loss of China since 2020.
Port Waratah Coal Services figures show Newcastle exports dropped from 111.3 million tonnes in 2021 to 91.9 million tonnes last year, a fall of 17.4 per cent.
A PWCS spokesperson attributed the decrease to a year of poor weather.
"As reported by various Hunter coal producers, mine production was affected by adverse weather that at times also impacted logistics across the coal chain," the spokesperson said.
Sixty per cent of the coal shipped out of Newcastle last year was destined for Japan.
The federal government did not rule out a resumption of normal coal trade with China when asked about the Reuters report on Thursday.
"It has been the government's consistent view that the resumption of normal trade across the board between Australia and China would be in both countries' best interests," a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said.
"That is true also of coal."
The reported thawing of trade relations follows Foreign Minister Penny Wong's first visit to Beijing last month, when she met Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
Ms Wong said at the time that the meeting had been "very constructive" and had included how trade blockages might be removed.
Australia accounted for 30 per cent of China's coal imports, or about 70 million tonnes a year, before the trade embargo.
Speculation in July that China was ending the coal ban did not come to fruition.
Meanwhile, Glencore, which operates nine Hunter mines, faces a campaign from institutional investors to explain how its coal operations align with efforts to curb global warming.
AAP reported on Thursday that investors from Europe, the US and Australia were demanding disclosure of how Glencore's coal production and investment plans squared with the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The shareholder resolution targets Glencore's thermal coal production.
The chief investment officer and deputy chief executive at Australia's Vision Super, Michael Wyrsch, told AAP it was disappointing Glencore continued to invest in thermal coal.
"Glencore has a tremendous opportunity to be part of and profit from the energy transition," he said. "It is well placed with its exposure to many key commodities for the transition, including copper and nickel."
He said the transition away from fossil fuels should help Glencore's growing recycling business.
The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility said it was the first time investors had filed a climate resolution focusing specifically on Glencore's thermal coal production and was a significant escalation of pressure on the company.
The shareholder activist organisation, working with UK-based responsible investment group ShareAction, said Glencore was already on notice after nearly a quarter of shareholders rejected its climate plan in 2022.
"The recent decision by Glencore to withdraw an application for the huge new Valeria greenfield coalmine in Australia shows that substantial reductions in coal output are possible," ACCR's Naomi Hogan said.
Glencore put the Valeria project in Queensland under review last month citing "increased global uncertainty".
"We will continue to progress various ... extensions at existing mines in Australia ... but note that within the next four years our Liddell, Newlands and Integra mines will close," it said at the time.
The investor resolution calls for the company's 2024 Climate Action Transition Plan to fully explain how it is responding to the phase-out of coal power stations.
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