Hanoi (VNA) - Accordingto statistics from the General Customs Department, by December 15 Vietnam hadimported a total 13 million tonnes of coal worth 860 million USD, more thanfour times the targeted 3 million tonnes.

Market observers saidglobal coal prices fell strongly due to a sharp fall in demand caused by theprolonged economic downturn and general switch to less polluting fuel.

But coal production inmany countries remains unchanged.

In the event, the priceshave dropped by than 10 per cent.

In August alone theprice in Australia’s Newcastle Port dropped from 84 USD per tonne to 74 USD.

In Vietnam, the price ofcoal 11A sold by TKV was 69 USD per tonne while China sold the same variety for45-56 USD exploited from open-cash mine.

Worse still, costs fordomestically exploiting coal have also been increasing by 3 or 4 per cent peryear due to difficult exploitation conditions.

Analysts said domesticprices are high because taxes and charges on coal products have been risingrelentlessly in recent years.

A 12 percent naturalresource tax is slapped on coal mining, and the rate goes up to 14 per cent incase of open-cast mines.

The comparable taxes are7 per cent and 6 per cent in Australia and 3 percent and 7 percent inIndonesia. In China, they range from from zero to 4 percent.

Not surprisingly, manyelectricity companies have switched from domestic to imported coal.

Since the beginning ofthis year, many of Electricity of Vietnam (EVN)’s subsidiaries have soughtpermission to import coal.

EVN itself plans toimport around 10 milion tonnes for its three thermal power plants, namely the600MW expanded Duyen Hai Project No.3, the 1,200MW Vinh Tan Project No.4, andthe 3,000MW Duyen Hai Project.

PetroVietnam is seekingcoal for five thermal electricity plants with a combined capacity of 6000MW.The company intends to use imported coal for Long Phu 1, Quang Trach 1 and SongHau 1 plants.

In February, PVN signedan agreement in principle with an Australian company to import around 3 milliontonnes a year.

The downside is that,with Vietnam itself being a large producer of coal, the rising imports mean thedomestic coal industry is saddled with increasingly large inventories.

According to theMinistry of Industry, at the end of April the inventory was 11 million tonnesas only three million tonnes were exported.    

Experts said the qualityof coal is affected severely if left unused for a long time after being mined,making exports even harder.-VNA