Coal exports at Australia's Newcastle port were little changed in the latest week, while ship queues rose from a one year low.

Port data showed that exports from the eastern coast port which ships mostly thermal coal used in power generation slipped by 0.3% to 1.92 million tonnes in the week to October 26.

It said that the number of coal ships queuing off the port rose to 19 after having fallen to a one-year low of 16 last week, while the average waiting time for ships to load coal fell to 6.1 days.

Producer sources said the recent low queue numbers were largely a result of fluctuation in the vessel arrival pattern and less to do with any drop in demand.

The number of coal vessels arriving at the port, a key indicator of demand, rose by three to 25.

(Sourced from Reuters)