BANGKOK: Thailand imported 1.93 million mt of coal in April, rising 13.8% from the same month last year, Customs Department data released Thursday showed. Of the total, the kingdom imported 999,153 mt of bituminous coal, up 6.9% year on year. The majority of imports came from Australia, at 566,487 mt or nearly four times higher than 142,821 mt in April 2015, and Indonesia with 432,182 mt, down 45.3% year on year.
Thailand also imported 20,593 mt of anthracite coal in April, up 5.2% year on year, mainly from Russia with 14,700 mt, from none a year earlier, followed by China at 5,875 mt, slightly up 0.6% year on year. Imports of other coal were 915,046 mt in April, up 22.7% from the same month last year. Most of this came from Indonesia, at 915,044 mt, up 22.8% year on year. During January-April, Thailand imported a total 7.12 million mt of coal, up 6.2% from 6.71 million mt a year earlier. Of this, 3.42 million mt were bituminous coal, up 4.3% year on year. Indonesia was the top supplier, with 2.05 million mt, but volumes were down 4.1% year on year. Imports from Australia rose 20% year on year to 1.37 million mt, according to the data.
Thailand’s anthracite coal imports in the first four months reached 31,232 mt, down 39.4% from 51,510 mt in January-April 2015. Shipments from Russia totaled 19,718 mt, from none a year earlier, while imports from China surged 95.2% year on year to 11,494 mt. The Southeast Asian nation imported 3.67 million mt of other coal over January-April, up 8.7% from 3.38 million mt in the year-ago period, with Indonesia being the main supplier of 3.43 million mt, up 3.6% year on year.
Thailand produced 3.87 million mt of lignite during January-March, up 1.2% from the same period last year, according to data released May 12 from Thailand’s Energy Policy and Planning Office. Data for domestic output in April and first four months was not available. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, or EGAT, accounts for most of the country’s domestic lignite production, which is mainly supplied to its own power plants.
In the first quarter of this year, the kingdom consumed 9.8 million mt of coal and lignite, up 5.4% year on year. Of this, coal accounted for nearly 60%, or 5.85 million mt, of the total. Coal-fired power plants consumed 5.86 million mt of coal and lignite in Q1, or nearly 60% of the total, rising 8.2% year on year. The remainder was used by other industrial sectors, EPPO data showed.
