ANKARA: Turkey has imposed an import duty of $15/mt on coal imported for use for power generation, according to an announcement in Turkey’s official state gazette Tuesday. According to the announcement those exempt from the new duty are EU countries, members of the European Free Trade Association, Israel, the west Bank and Gaza, Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Georgia, Albania, Jordan, Chile, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, South Korea, Mauritius and Malaysia.
The announcement said the duty is being imposed to “reduce the negative effects of imports” on the Turkish economy. According to the latest data on the Turkish power sector released by state grid operator TEIAS, as of the end of June Turkey had 10 power plants totalling 6,780 MW burning imported coal.
Data from Turkey’s energy regulator shows that a further nine plants totalling 6,540 MW have been licensed and are under development, while four more totalling 4,200 MW hold pre-licenses guaranteeing the issue of a full generating license once funding to develop the plant has been secured. Applications have been made for further five plant totalling 3,800 MW. According to data published by Turkey’s state statistics office TUIK, in 2015 turkey imported 33.226 million mt of hard coal. In addition to burning in power plants, Turkey also imports coal for steel production and domestic heating.
