Mongolian coal export has continued its rising trend by posting a 20% growth during Sep’18. As per the data provided by Mongolian customs, exports from the country were recorded at 3.54 MnT in Sep’18 against 2.94 MnT in Aug’18.
Export in Sep’18 was also 55% higher on the year compared with 2.28 MnT in Sep’17.
The significant rise in export figures strictly pertains to the increase in appetite from China, which had taken nearly all the coal exported from Mongolia. During Sep’18, China had imported 3.53 MnT Mongolian coal, with a meagre 0.01 MnT going to the UK.
Mongolian total coal exports in the first 9 months of CY18 (Jan’18-Sep’18) have reached 27.03 MnT, up 6% Y-o-Y from 25.52 MnT the corresponding period’s total in CY17.
The Mongolian Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry has estimated exports of 33.3 MnT coal by the end of last year, which is subdued with respect to 32.99 MnT exports attained in CY17.
While Mongolia has substantial reserves of coking coal, exports have been constrained as a result of transportation bottlenecks at the China border, and would require substantial investment into road and rail infrastructure to raise the current export level.
Earlier in 2018, Aspire Mining signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of a railway to link the Ovoot mining area to the existing Erdenent railway. The proposed project will eventually enable coal from Mongolia’s Ovoot mining area to be transported via the Trans-Mongolian railway.
Mongolia has set a target to hike its coal exports to hit 40 MnT over the next years.
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