Coal exports surge in four months
Vietnam’s total coal export volume in the first four months of the year surged five times from the same time last year to more than 544,000 tonnes, according to statistics from the General Department of Customs.
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The department said that Vietnam pocketed US$83.6 million from coal shipments during the period, a 9.5 times increase year-on-year.
Average coal export price rocketed to nearly US$154 per tonne, much higher than US$79 per tonne during January-April in 2016.
Notably, China was no longer Vietnam’s key export market in the period with the major coal importers being Japan and Malaysia.
According to a master plan for the coal sector by 2020 with a vision to 2030, coal output is expected to reach 47-50 million tonnes by 2020 and 55-57 million tonnes by 2030.
However, domestic demand for coal is forecast to be double local production output, about 112.3 million tonnes by 2020 and 220.3 million by 2030.
