Russia lifts coal exports to Israel

Russian thermal coal exports to Israel surged in January-July compared with a year earlier, despite the country's plans to phase out coal-fired power generation as it transitions to cleaner energy.

Russian suppliers exported 1.5mn t of thermal coal to Israel in the first seven months of 2019, up by 63pc from a year earlier. Global Trade Tracker (GTT) data show. The country buys bituminous coal of T, D and SS grades from Russia.

But Israel's overall coal imports fell by 5.6pc to 4.78mn t over the period. Israel also imports coal from Colombia and South Africa. Colombian supplies fell by 18.4pc to 3.1mn t in January-July, while South African shipments fell by 48.5pc to 175,000t, according to GTT.

Israel's thermal coal imports declined to 8mn t last year from 8.25mn t in 2017, according to GTT.

The Israeli government last year approved a plan to close ageing coal-fired power units within four years in an effort to curb pollution. The government has accepted a plan to shut units 1-4 at utility IEC's 2.61GW Orot Rabin plant in Hadera by June 2022, the energy ministry says. IEC also operates the 2.29GW Rutenberg coal-fired plant.

Israel plans to cut coal's share of its power generation mix to 10pc by 2025, down from the current 45pc, the energy ministry says (see graph). And coal-fired power should be phased out completely by 2030, with the generation mix consisting of 83pc gas and 17pc renewables.

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