中文
Vietnam surged its coal imports this year to avert a repeat of last year's power outages, with import volumes nearly doubling compared to the year-ago level, customs data showed.
Vietnam experienced widespread power shortages since early June last summer, leading to temporary production halts, especially in northern provinces dense with multiple multinational companies.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assured that there would be no more power cuts, though he did not mention specific measures to achieve this goal, state media reported.
Phan Xuan Dung, a Vietnam researcher at the Singapore-based ISEAS think tank, opined that Vietnam's limited capacity in harnessing renewable energy necessitated the increases in coal imports to fulfill its commitments.
Vietnam's coal imports soared 60% on the year to 51.16 million tonnes in 2023, along with growing coal consumption at local coal-fired power plants.
In the first half of March, the country's coal imports (including foreign-invested enterprises), stood at 2.48 million tonnes, a 62.95% jump from the 1.52 million tonnes in the same period last year. Total coal imports reached 11.73 million tonnes as of March 15 this year, surging 87.7% year on year, customs data showed.
A Vietnam-based trader predicted that coal imports would further rise in the second half of 2024 as steelmakers and other energy-intensive industries are expected to ramp up production.
Meanwhile, official estimates indicated that domestic coal production grew 3.3% over the first two months of the year, covering about half of the country's coal demand.
Vietnam's monthly coal supplies combined with imports and domestic output surpassed 8 million tonnes over usually quieter January-February period, rising nearly 9% than the monthly average of the past two years.
While specific data on the power generation mix this year was not yet available, coal-fired power accounted for about 60% of Vietnam's total electricity generation this week, according to its power grid operator.
Vietnam, one of the top 20 coal users in the world, plans to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. However, its coal consumption is unlikely to peak within this decade.
(Writing by yan.sun Editing by Alex Guo)
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