Vietnam Forecast to Import 28M Tons of Coal by 2015
Vietnam is forecast to have to import 28 million tons of coal to feed domestic consumption by 2015, the state-owned Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) said in a recently-announced plan.
The country’s coal supply for domestic power projects is predicted to lack 8.2 million tons in 2012 and 12.8 million tons in 2015, according to Vinacomin’s plan.
Vietnam, however, is struggling to find coal import sources worldwide, including Australia and Indonesia, amid global coal scarcity as partners from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have won large-scale coal import contracts.
Moreover, domestic investors are facing great difficulties in investing in overseas coal mines, including huge capital, experts said.
They added that it would cost up to US$8 billion to invest in an overseas mine with a capacity of 30 million tons of coal per year for 30 years.
This year, the country’s top miner or Vinacomin, expects to produce 43 million tons of coal. (Investment)
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