Russian coal suppliers began to lose buyers in the Asian region due to increased competition from exporters from the Republic of South Africa (South Africa) and Colombia. One of the main reasons for such dynamics was low prices, informs The newspaper Kommersant cites statistics from Argus analysts.
Over the past few weeks, the cost of Russian thermal coal has fallen more slowly than its major third-country competitors. The difference to its counterparts in South Africa and Colombia mentioned in the article is now more than $10 per tonne.
“From April 21 to May 12, the price of energy coal fell by 5% to $124.3 per ton on FOB Vostochny (Delivery from Far East ports – socialbites.ca). South African coal FOB Richards Bay was down 19% to $107/ton in the same period. The premium on Russian coal against Colombian coal rose from $6 in March to $13.5 in May.
As a result, Colombian and South African charcoal is becoming increasingly popular with Asian consumers. The note states that shipments to China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have increased over the past few weeks.
On May 22, Kommersant newspaper cited a source. reportedIt was stated that in the first four months of 2023, all kinds of coal sales from Russian ports increased by 18.3 percent compared to the same period of 2022. Since the beginning of this year, this figure has increased to 69.9 million tons.