New Zealand coal imports climbed to the highest in three years in the fourth quarter as BlueScope Steel Ltd brought in Indonesian supplies to feed its plant during strikes at local mines.

The Ministry of Economic Development in a statement said that imports rose to 244,000 tons in the three months ended December 31st 2009 up by 36% YoY and the highest since the fourth quarter of 2006. Output in the period dropped to its lowest in almost 10 years as workers at Solid Energy New Zealand Ltd. mines went on a five week strike.

BlueScope’s Glenbrook mill south of Auckland is New Zealand’s largest steelmaker, with annual capacity of about 650,000 tons. It buys about 770000 tons of coal annually from Solid Energy’s Rotowaro and Huntly mines under a five year supply deal agreed in November 2008.

Interrupted supplies from those mines forced the mill to buy Indonesian coal and threatened their long-term viability, the government owned miner said during the November strikes.

The Ministry of Economic Development said that shipments from all New Zealand mines dropped to 406,000 tons in the fourth quarter, 10 percent less than a year earlier and the lowest since the first quarter of 2004.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)