Asia boost for SA coal exports
IF THE Richards Bay Coal Terminal’s export figures are anything to go by, Asia’s demand for South African coal seems to be growing.
The exporter announced its latest statistics at a briefing on January 31 and expanded upon some of its notable increases and decreases.
Chief executive Alan Waller said in his presentation that, while the company had registered a 4% drop in overall exports from more than 75million tons to 72.5million tons, some markets appeared to be booming.
“Asian markets, for example, contributed to 75% of the total exported. This is an increase from 66% in 2015.”
India, Pakistan and South Korea were particularly large importers, he said.
Reuters reported last week that India had surrendered its status as the world’s top importer of coal back to China, with its overseas purchases last year falling to less than 200 million tons.
India’s coal imports last year totalled 194.93 million tons.
This was 5.4% lower than the 206.6 million recorded for 2015, and also less than the 255.5 million tons imported by China last year, according to official customs data.
Waller said several new countries – including Myanmar, Vietnam, Bulgaria and Mexico – also began exporting coal from South Africa last year.
Others, like Indonesia, Japan and Greece, stopped exporting the country’s coal.
Overall, the company exported to 44 countries last year. In 2015, it exported to 42.
Waller broke it down further, saying that in 2015, they had handled 925 vessels, working out to an average of 81 490 tons per vessel.
Last year, they handled 906 vessels, which was 80103 tons per vessel.
European imports were down from 19% to 12% and those from Africa also suffered a knock (from 14% to 12%).
Environmental rights groups, like Greenpeace and Eco Watch, reported last year that many European countries were moving away from coal as a means of energy production.
This year, he said, they were aiming to export 77 million tons of coal.
The company moves the coal for Exxaro, Tumelo Coal Mines, Umcebo Mining and Anglo American.
“All of our coal is thermal so it’s for power generation (used in the manufacturing sector).”
The company – which has four ship loaders capable of loading 8 000 to 12 000 tons per hour – has exported 2 billion tons since its establishment in 1976.
“Two more ship loaders, to help make operations more efficient, are expected to be installed by the end of the year.”
The company is currently 32.53% black-owned with black women owning 6.18% of it.
The Terminal – which is also Africa’s largest coal exporter – also expanded upon its value chain partnership with Transnet and how this had helped to streamline its operations.
“We had an average of 76 vessels per month, peaking at 95 vessels in November. There were three vessels being completed every day.”
In addition to this, the operations used 752 trains per month, peaking at 868 trains in October, which was two trains short of breaking the rail record.
“There was an average of 25 trains per day being tipped.”