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Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan

suspends coal imports

from Russia

JAPAN JAPANESE coal importer Idemitsu Kosan has month from Indonesia, the embassy added.
suspended buying new coal shipments from Russia was Japan’s third-largest coal supplier
Russia for its Japanese customers over concerns after Australia and Indonesia in 2021, supplying
about shipping and payment. 19.734m tonnes, or 11% of the country’s total
Shipping companies have been wary of load- imports of 182.629mn tonnes, according to Min-
ing Russian cargoes, with sanctions on financial istry of Finance data.
institutions creating uncertainty over payments. Australia accounted for 65% of Japan’s total
Idemitsu said it would look to suppliers from 2021 coal imports, followed by Indonesia at 12%.
Indonesia and Australia to fill the supply gap, Idemitsu produces coal in Queensland, New
according to a report from S&P Global Com- South Wales and Indonesia and mined 8.613mn
modity Insights. tonnes between April and December 2021,
About 11% of Japan’s coal, or 19.7mn tonnes, around 90% of it from Australia.
was supplied by Russian exporters in 2021, Japan’s continued reluctance to end coal
making Russia Japan’s third-largest source of funding has contrasted with its commitment to
imports. Idemitsu has also suspended Russian green targets.
crude oil imports. In 2021, Tokyo managed to water down the
Japan has been acutely concerned about coal G7’s commitment to phasing out coal, with Jap-
imports this year, with Indonesia’s January ban anese media saying that the grouping’s recent
on coal exports causing price volatility and con- meeting of environment ministers had stopped
cerns in Japan about security of supply. short of calling for the total abandonment of
China, India, Japan and South Korea together coal-fired power generation.
received 73% of Indonesian coal exports in 2021. Japan’s reliance on coal-fired power stems
Of these, Japan and South Korea called publicly partly from the 2011 Fukushima crisis that led
for Indonesia to ease off on its ban, as did the many of its nuclear plants (NPPs) to suspend
Philippines. operations for safety checks.™
Japan imports about 2mn tonnes of coal per

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