Thailand's March coal imports rise on industrial demand

Thailand's thermal coal imports in March rose on the year, led by stronger demand from the country's industrial sector.

Total imports — including non-coking bituminous coal, sub bituminous coal and lignite — increased to 1.78mn t in March, up by 45pc from 1.22mn t a year earlier but little changed from February, Thai customs data show.

Thailand imported 1.34mn t of Indonesian thermal coal in March, rising by 26pc on the year and by 15pc on the month. Indonesia accounted for around 75pc of Thailand's total imports during the month.

Imports from Australia reached 383,000t in March, more than double the 160,000t recorded a year earlier, but were 32pc lower than in February. Australia supplied about 21pc of Thailand's coal imports in March.

Thailand also imported coal from the US. Shipments totalled around 61,000t in March, compared with no significant shipments a year earlier.

Thailand imported around 5.5mn t of coal from January-March, up by 20pc from the same period a year earlier.

Demand led by industrial sector

Thailand's industrial sector consumed nearly 2mn t of coal in January-February, increasing by 15pc on the year, according to data from Thailand's Energy Policy and Planning Office (Eppo). Eppo has not yet released March data.

But coal demand from the power sector continues to wane. The power sector's coal consumption stood at 1.4mn t in January-February, down by 52pc from 2.9mn t burned for power generation the same period a year earlier.

Thailand has kept coal-fired generation to under 10pc of its power output this year as the country relies on more gas-fired output, renewables and imported power sources. Overall power generation reached 17.9TWh in February, up from 17.1TWh a year earlier.

Coal fired output fell to 1.4TWh in February, down from 2.9TWh a year earlier but up slightly from 1.1TWh in January, Eppo data show.

Coal accounted for 8.1pc of Thailand's power generation in February, compared with 16pc in the same month a year earlier.

Gas fired generation increased to 11.3TWh in February from 9.8TWh a year earlier, making up 63pc of overall output. Hydropower generation also rose to 902GWh in February, up from 727GWh a year earlier, and accounting for 5pc of total output. Renewable energy and imported power output reached 4.2TWh and nearly 5TWh respectively in February, accounting for 11pc and 13pc of power generated in the country that month.

Thailand's domestic coal production has continued to remain below typical levels this year — averaging around 1mn t/month in 2025 — because of weak power demand. Domestic coal production fell to 456,000t in February, down from 1.02mn t a year earlier, but up from 336,000t in January, according to Eppo data.

By Nadhir Mokhtar

Thailand's thermal coal imports mn t

Thailand's power generation mix TWh