Page 14 - AsiaElec Week 49 2022

AsiaElec COAL AsiaElec

Russian coal exports

hit fresh highs after EU

shipping sanctions softened

ASIA RUSSIAN exports of coal have soared to fresh The volume of Russian coal exports in Octo-
highs after the EU softened sanctions on Euro- ber rose to 16.6mn tonnes, just under the level in
pean shipping companies, allowing them to June, which was the highest volume since 2017,
carry goods worldwide shortly after a ban was according to analytics firm Kpler. Exports have
imposed in August as part of the fifth package slipped a bit since then, in line with normal sea-
of sanctions. sonal volatility, Port News reports.
The fifth package was imposed in April. It was Like Russia’s oil exports, the softening of the
the first package to target Russia’s energy busi- shipping sanctions on Russian coal producers
ness, as it banned European companies from has allowed them to successfully redirect their
seaborne shipments of coal and went into effect business to Asia and represents more sanctions
on August 10. leakage.
The leading EU shipping companies, particu- Russia is one of the world’s top three coal
larly Greek firms, have resisted the ban on ship- exporters, though the business makes up only a
ping Russian goods as it makes up such a large small part of the whole Russian energy complex.
part of their business. The Institute of Interna- Turkey is again playing an important role as
tional Finance (IIF) found in a survey that since a transit country for Russian exports. Turkey
the war started not only has Greek shipping has also refused to participate in the oil price
failed to reduce its work with Russia, but its mar- cap scheme that came into effect on December
ket share in transporting Russian goods by sea 5, and is giving passage to Russian ships passing
has risen from 35% to 55%, when reflagging and through the Bosphorus straits. China is one of
other dodges to obscure the ownership of ships the main customers of Russian coal, on which it
is taken into account. remains heavily reliant for fuel to fire its power
Lobbying by the Greek shipping industry and stations.
others led the EU to soften the fifth package of Kpler calculated the increase based on ship-
sanctions. The ban on the transport of Russian ments of coking and thermal coal from ports, as
coal and other products was amended in Sep- well as broker reports and its analytics network.
tember and allowed for the provision of services The estimates don’t include Russia’s coal exports
like shipping, financing and insurance needed to by rail, which are also significant.
transfer coal and other products by ship to desti- The European ban on the import of Rus-
nations outside the EU in order to “alleviate the sian coal remains in place, forcing European
energy and food crises worldwide.” power companies to import coal from as far
Since then, Russia’s seaborne coal exports away as Australia, another major coal producer.
have risen to their highest levels on record as the But European shipping companies have been
winter arrives, with many of the shipments going allowed to ship coal to third countries since
to Asia. Previously the EU was heavily depend- September. Sales of coal have soared during the
ent on imports of Russian coal, which accounted energy crisis as countries seek cheaper alterna-
for 46.7% of all EU imports of solid fuel, accord- tive fuels to volatile and increasingly expensive
ing to Eurostat. gas and LNG.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 06•December•2022