Europe ramps up buys of South African coal amid supply security push ahead of Russia ban
European countries have ramped up purchases of South African coal to meet their energy needs, as the continent scrambles to secure alternatives supplies following Western sanctions on Russia.
The continent imported 40 per cent more coal from South Africa’s main export hub in the first five months of this year than over the whole of 2021, according to figures obtained by news agency Reuters.
South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) delivered 3.24m tonnes of coal to European countries between January and May- 15 per cent of the terminal’s overall exports.
For context, Europe imported 2.3m tonnes of coal from South Africa for the whole of last year.
The shift in purchase patterns reflects Europe’s need for coal to power its industries, businesses and homes despite the long-term shift to renewables.
Russian coal imports will be banned in the European Union from the second week of August, as part of wide-ranging sanctions directed at the Kremlin following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
New nations enter the coal race
Countries including Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Ukraine have all received coal from RBCT so far this year – and some of them only began importing from RBCT after conflict erupted in Ukraine this February.
Netherlands received no coal from RBCT in January or February, but imported 1.27m tonnes of coal from the terminal in March, April and May, with volumes increasing each month.
It was the fourth top recipient of RBCT coal, accounting for 5.76 per cent of total volumes delivered from the terminal.
Meanwhile, France’s coal imports from RBCT jumped nearly seven-fold, from just 68,005 tonnes over the whole of last year to 464,432 tonnes so far in 2022.
Spain, Poland and Germany did not import any coal from RBCT last year.
However, in the first five months of this year, Spain has imported 355,250 tonnes, Poland 181,515 tonnes and Germany 157,383 tonnes.
Japan, which has also announced it would ban Russian coal imports, received 388,249 tonnes of coal from RBCT since January.
This is nearly double the tonnage it bought last year.
By contrast, China – the third biggest importer of coal from RBCT in 2021 with 6.1m tonnes – did not receive any coal from the terminal this year
Instead, it has pivoted to Russia, and increased its imports from the country as Europe shifts to new markets.
The surge in exports to Europe came despite a backdrop of poor performance at RBCT – reflecting the missed opportunity for South Africa as prices of fossil fuels shot up.
Poor maintenance, a lack of locomotives, and copper cable theft has eroded South Africa’s state-owned freight rail services which transport coal to RBCT and other ports.
Some miners have been using trucks to get their coal to port instead.
Nevertheless, Europe has still purchasing Russian gas supplies and has only brought in restrictions on seaborne supplies of Kremlin-backed crude oil imports.
The latest date from Beyond Coal reveals the European Union has spent €62bn on Russia coal, oil and gas since Russian invaded Ukraine.