South African coal production declined by 8pc on the year to 228.6mn t in 2021, but stocks are up owing to a drop in exports, according to the Minerals Council of South Africa.
Net raw material inventories increased 416pc on the year as exported volumes decreased due to "rail and port constraints", amounting to 2.4mn t in stocks, the organisation said. The report does not specify what proportion of these inventories are thermal coal but did note that "the coal industry's exports were 12.8mn t less than the year before…".
Exported coal declined by 22pc last year, dropping to 46.8mn t. Though exports dropped to their lowest point since at least 2010, the rand value of these sales rose to their highest since 2018 because of firm coal prices.
Fob Richards Bay NAR 6,000kcal/kg physical prices averaged $125.74/t in 2021 compared with $65.23/t a year earlier. South African prices peaked at $246.90/t on 15 October last year, a four-fold year on year increase.
Local sales — dominated by South African utility Eskom — rose because of high prices, but actual tonnage sold dropped to 177mn t, lower even than in 2019 and 2020 when global energy demand slumped as a result of the pandemic.
Eskom experienced severe infrastructural failures last year, with generation units regularly coming off line, leading to a build up of stocks.
Eskom announced today that stage two loadshedding will commence this evening, after generation units at Arnot, Grootvlei and Matla power stations either tripped or were taken off line for repairs yesterday evening.
