SXCoal, January 25, 2021
Thailand’s thermal coal imports (including bituminous and sub-bituminous coal) in 2020 increased 8.48% year on year to 21.71 million tonnes, showed data from the Thailand Customs.
Bituminous coal imports totaled 8.2 million tonnes last year, a 1.59% rise year on year; sub-bituminous coal increased 12.55% to 15.38 million tonnes.
In December, the country’s thermal coal imports reached 1.74 million tonnes, up 2.6 times year on year and 17.9% month on month. Bituminous coal imports rose 15.85% year on year to 449,100 tonnes, which decreased 7.88% from November.
The country imported the largest amount of bituminous coal totaling 227,900 tonnes from Indonesia in December, far higher than 55,000 tonnes a year ago; Russia took the second place with 20,000 tonnes, up 1.01% on the year.
Thailand imported 1.29 million tonnes of sub-bituminous coal in December, surging 4.5 times on the year and 30.64% from November. Indonesia was its largest supplier with 1.13 million tonnes, nearly 4 times larger than 288,900 tonnes in December 2019.
Imports of anthracite in December plunged 49.4% month on month to 5,868 tonnes, still higher than 68 tonnes a year ago. The nation didn’t import any coking coal in the month.
Coal consumption (including lignite) of Thailand in the year to November totaled 32.55 million tonnes, falling 1.4% year on year, according to the country’s Energy Policy and Planning Office (EPPO). Power utilities burnt 19.69 million tonnes of coal, a year-on-year fall of 2.43%, accounting for 60.48% of the country’s total.
Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo