The Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) is one of the leading coal export terminals in the world, with a design capacity of 91 MnT. It is located in the Richards Bay harbour on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa.
India is the major coal importer from RBCT, as South African coal is most preferred by the sponge manufacturers.
During May’17, RBCT exported 3.34 MnT Non-Coking Coal to India with an increase of 13% M-o-M compared with 2.96 MnT in Apr’17, according to the vessel lineup data maintained by SteelMint research.
The reason for the rise in exports could be attributed to the high Indonesian coal prices during Apr’17, which drifted Indian buyers towards South African Coal market to meet their demand.
RBCT’s coal export to India stood 13.10 MnT during Jan’17-May’17, which accounts for 42% of the total coal exported by the coal terminal during the period.
Source: SteelMinT Research
Major Non-Coking Coal Importing Countries from RBCT:
Non-Coking Coal export from RBCT increased by 26% M-o-M to 6.93 MnT in May’17. The coal terminal had exported 5.50 MnT coal in Apr’17.
Apart from India, other major coal importers from RBCT in May’17 were Pakistan, Taiwan and Spain.
Pakistan, second-largest coal importer, recorded a fall in their coal imports. The country received 0.66 MnT coal in May’17 against 0.78 MnT in Apr’17.
Taiwan was the third largest coal importer from RBCT. Monthly Coal imports increased 106% M-o-M to 0.33 MnT in May’17 compared with 0.16 MnT in Apr’17.
South Africa Annual Rail Repair Schedule:
State-controlled Rail Company, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) which moves coal from mines to the port, has scheduled annual maintenance for the main South African coal export line in Jul’17.
Maintenance along the line to RBCT from mines will take place for 7 days during 11-17 Jul’17, instead of the usual 10 days because some of the maintenance work has already been completed. Earlier, TFR had planned RBCT line maintenance for 10 days over 11-20 Jul’17.
Moreover, in order to better align with India’s monsoon period, TFR had moved the annual maintenance schedule from May’17 to Jul’17. As buying activity from India is slowed down during the monsoon period.
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