Bangladesh: Thermal coal import shipments fall by 34% in CY'21 amid escalated prices

Bangladesh's thermal coal imports fell by a whopping 34% y-o-y to 4.4 million tonnes (mn t) in CY'21, CoalMint's vessel-line up data reveals. This fall has come amid escalated global thermal coal prices that had more than doubled in 2021.

Bangladesh traditionally runs its energy infrastructure on natural gas as almost two-third of the country's power production depends on the same, while the rest comes from coal, liquid fuel and hydropower. Another major user of thermal coal in the country is the brick kiln industry.

Imports from Indonesia decline by 49%

Owing to a surge of 95% in Indonesian coal prices in 2021, Bangladesh's coal imports from the country fell by 49% y-o-y to 2.78 mn t.

Bangladesh has started importing coal from Indonesia from 2019 as it raised its usage of imported coal at its power plants.

The Bangladesh-China Power Company had signed a deal with Indo firm, PT Bayan Resources in 2019 to import coal on a regular basis for the 1,320-megawatt coal-fired Payra power plant in Patuakhali.

Imports from South Africa drop by 13%

Bangladesh's coal imports from South Africa fell to 0.81 mn t, down 13% y-o-y, CoalMint data reveals.

A sharp rise in South African coal prices last year had also weighed upon Bangladesh's brick kiln industry as several units were even forced to shut shops. Amid a sharp rise in coal prices, brick production was delayed over two months last year.

It takes around 20-25 days to burn brick in one phase and around 130 t of coal is consumed to burn 0.8 mn t of brick in a single phase.

Imports from Australia rise sharply

After a three-year gap since 2017, Bangladesh began its coal imports from Australia from 2020 after the Chinese government put an unofficial ban on Australian coal leading to a sharp fall in its prices.

Owing to the consistent supply disruptions from Indonesia and South Africa last year, Bangladeshi importers turned towards Australian coal.

The country's total imports from Australia in CY'21 stood at 0.6 mn t, as against 0.06 mn t in 2020.

The country also imported its first-ever coal consignment of 0.03 mn t from India last year for its Rampal Power Station in Khulna.

The power plant is a joint venture between India's NTPC and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Outlook

Bangladesh's coal imports in 2022 are likely to remain supported amid its series of lined-up coal projects. Volatile prices, may however, cap any sharp rise in imports this year.