Dalrymple Bay Infrastructure has blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for an 18 per cent drop in annual coal exports through its Queensland terminal as it delivered a maiden net loss of $113 million and said it would consider a share buyback to boost its stock price.

Coal exports from the company’s terminal at Hay Point – mostly metallurgical coal, which is used to make steel – slid to 55 million tonnes in calendar 2020, down from 67 million tonnes a year earlier.