Starting the second week of August, Russian coal imports will be banned in the European Union, part of wide-ranging sanctions on Moscow. Hence, European countries, will be scrambling to secure alternatives to Russian coal, imported 40% more coal from South Africa’s main export hub in the first five months of this year than over the whole of 2021.
Already, South Africa is one such supplier, and the world’s fifth largest exporter of coal. Recipient countries include Spain, Poland, and Germany, which did not import any South African coal last year, as well as France, which increased its imports sevenfold year-over-year.
South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) delivered 3,240,752 tonnes of coal to European countries by end-May this year, 15% of RBCT’s overall exports, up from 2,321,190 (4%) in 2021, the figures showed.
RBCT did not immediately reply to a request for comment. RBCT usually provides figures annually, and does not give a comprehensive breakdown of export destinations.
The Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Ukraine have received coal from RBCT so far this year. Some of them only began importing from RBCT after Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb 24.
