European buyers are expanding shipments of coal from across the world amidst talks of European Union ban on Russian imports and the struggle to ease stiff gas supplies.
The European Commission on Tuesday, April 5, suggested new sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, along with a ban on buying Russian coal and on Russian ships entering EU ports. The latest restrictions come at a time of doubt about future gas deliveries from Russia to the EU after the Kremlin’s demand that buyers begin paying Russian gas giant Gazprom in rubles.
Analysis by ship-broker Braemar ACM based on ship tracking data has found that European countries imported a total of 7.1 million tons of thermal coal in March, a 40.5 percent increase year-on-year and the highest level since March 2019. (Related: Massive energy and power crunch coming soon as U.S. coal producers have already sold their coal inventories for 2022.)
“Despite Russian coal shipments to Europe in March still continuing at pre-war levels, the expected alteration in coal flows into Europe has started to show. Shipments from Colombia and the United States have been strong in response to the conflict with Atlantic suppliers providing the most cost-efficient alternative for European end-users,” Braemar dry bulk analyst Mark Nugent said.
According to the European Commission website, the EU relies on Russia for around 45 percent of its coal and gas imports and around 25 percent of its oil imports.
Braemar data revealed 3.5 million tons of Russian thermal coal was imported into the EU in March, the largest monthly total since October 2020.
On a weekly basis, March 28-April 1 saw the biggest levels of Russian thermal coal imports since the Feb. 24 invasion started, with 887,000 tons of Russian thermal coal imported into the EU as reported by Braemar.
German coal importers’ group VDKi on Wednesday, April 6, said the nation should be able to seek alternatives to Russian hard coal imports by the high demand winter season, although there will be technical issues and added costs.
The Braemar data showed thermal coal imports from Colombia reached 1.3 million tons in March, increasing by 47.3 percent year-on-year.
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