Coal news and updates

Indian buyers switching to SA coal over Indonesian

As South African coal prices have come down sharply over the last six months, a number of Indian buyers have switched from Indonesian coal to the South African variety, leading to a fall in imports from the south Asian country, an official from a leading importer said.

“Those who were procuring Indonesian coal earlier for blending are now opting for South African coal at very cheap rates. This has resulted in reduced imports from Indonesia in recent months,” the official said.

Pointing out that standard grade South African coal has been hovering at around $52-53 per ton FOB for some time now, he said, “That’s the price they used to pay for higher grade Indonesian coal till late last year.”

“There is as such no problem of supply from Indonesia, but the buyers are taking advantage of the lower prices in the international market,” he added.

India’s imports of coal from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in South Africa stood at 37.747 million tons (mt) during financial year 2015-16 (April-March), up 12.55% as compared to 33.537 mt imported in 2014-15, according to data available with ICMW.

In contrast, Indonesian coal import has suffered a decline by around 10-15 mt last year.