Thailand boosts imports of Russian coal

Thailand's imports of Russian coal almost tripled on the year in January-May — to 498,000t from 164,000t — Thai customs data show. And Russian shipments to Thailand are expected to keep rising because of competitive prices, market participants say.

Russia became the third-largest coal supplier to Thailand this year, with its share of imports rising by almost three percentage points to 5pc in January-May, according to Thai customs data.

"In 2019, we plan to increase coal shipments to southeast Asian countries — including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand — as we find more opportunities in this region with growing consumption," a source at a large Russian mining company says. "Most of the Russian coal trades into Thailand are on a spot basis, and for local buyers price remains the key factor."

Thai consumers buy Russian coal fines and lower-calorific value (CV) brown coal, which can partly replace declining domestic lignite supply. Russia mainly ships brown coal with a CV of less than 5,000 kcal/kg and bituminous thermal coal with a CV of about 5,500 kcal/kg to Thailand.

In January-May, the key suppliers of Russian material to Thailand were Suek and Sakhalin-based mining companies, while Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Kompania (KTK) exported some bituminous thermal coal to this destination. Siberian Anthracite shipped a small amount of Russian anthracite to Thailand.

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