BANGKOK: Thailand imported 1.82 million mt of coal in June, down 6.4% from a year earlier, customs data released Wednesday showed. It imported 1.01 million mt of bituminous coal, down 7% year on year. Indonesia was Thailand’s largest supplier of bituminous coal in June with 550,987 mt, nearly 32% down from 809,862 mt in June last year, followed by Australia with 456,609 mt, which exported 66.7% more coal from June 2015.
Thailand imported only 69 mt of anthracite coal in the month, down 99.1% year on year, mainly from China. Imports of other coals stood at 815,201 mt in June, down 4.7% from a year ago, mainly from Indonesia at 760,000 mt, 5.3% lower year on year, and Australia at 286,715 mt, down 36.1% from June last year.
In the first half of the year, Thailand imported 11.13 million mt of coal, up 3.5% from 10.76 million mt in H1 2015. Of this, 5.61 million mt were bituminous coal, up 6.8% year on year. The key supplier in the period was Indonesia with 3.41 million mt, up 1% year on year, followed by Australia with 2.11 million mt, rising 13.4% from the same period last year, according to the data.
Thailand’s imports of anthracite coal in H1 stood at 47,359 mt, down 35.8% from 73,786 mt in H1 last year. Russia was a new supplier with 19,718 mt, while imports from China surged 103.2% year on year to 12,063 mt in the period. Imports of other coals edged up 0.8% to 5.48 million mt in H1, mainly from Indonesia (5.16 million mt, down 3% year on year) and Australia (1.65 million mt, up 4.2% from H1 2015).
Thailand produced 6.88 million mt of lignite over January-May, rising 7.5% from the same period in 2015, according to data released July 12 from Thailand’s Energy Policy and Planning Office. Data for domestic output in June and first half 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 five months of this year, the country consumed 16.94 million mt of coal and lignite, up 9.5% year on year. Of this, coal accounted for 58.7%, or 9.95 million mt, of the total. Coal-fired power plants consumed 10.31 million mt of coal and lignite over January-May, or 60.9% of the total, rising 11.4% year on year.
