Russian coal exports to Taiwan rise

Taiwan's receipts of bituminous and sub-bituminous coal from Russia rose by 11pc or almost 1mn t on the year in 2018 to 9.9mn t. Russian producers increased market share in Taiwan, successfully competing with Indonesian suppliers.

Taiwan's total bituminous and sub-bituminous coal imports were little changed last year. Overall receipts totalled around 68.91mn t in 2018, up by just 100,000t on the year, mainly because of stable coal-fired power generation. Russia exports mainly thermal coal to Taiwan, along with a smaller volume of coking coal.

Growth in Russian coal deliveries to the country was driven mainly by higher shipments from large thermal coal producer Kuzbassrazrezugol. Russia's largest coal producer and exporter Suek registered a much smaller increase in sales. At the same time, Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Kompaniya and SDS-Ugol decreased thermal coal deliveries to Taiwan.

Russia increased its share in Taiwan's total coal imports by 1 percentage point on the year to 14pc in 2018, mainly at the expense of Indonesia, its main competitor in Taiwan. Taiwan decreased imports from Indonesia by 5pc on the year to 17.91mn t in 2018.

Taiwan's coal imports from Russia may increase further this year. Two new coal-fired units — Talin No 2 and Linkou No 3 — are expected to start up in June-July. Russian suppliers plan to participate in coal procurement for these utilities with consumption of 2.4mn t/yr of thermal coal each.

Find more news, price information and market analysis on Russian coal exports in Argus Russian Coal report.