Russian Coal Producer to Raise Exports to Japan

Thursday, 24 March 2011 10:41

Siberian Coal Energy Co., or SUEK, is set to expand thermal coal exports to Japan, The Nikkei reported. Russia’s largest coal producer plans to increase its annual exports to Japan from 2010 by roughly 30% to 5 million metric tons (mt) in 2013.

It shipped 3.9 million mt to Japan in 2010. The firm sees Japan as a key market because of the country’s stable demand for coal. SUEK supplied about 88 million tons of coal in 2009, making it the 10th-largest producer in the world, accounting for about 30% of the country’s total production volume. It has 5.8 billion mt of coal reserves, the third-largest reserves in the world. Japan imported about 160 million mt of coal in 2009, of which around 60% came from Australia.