South Africa seeks to increase coal exports to India

South Africa is eyeing a boost in coal exports to India after shipping a record 75.4 million tonnes of coal last year, industry officials said on Friday.

A drop in Indonesian exports to India, which imported around 165 million tonnes of thermal coal in 2015, has offered an opportunity for South Africa.

Data from analytics consultancy IHS Energy shows that around 36 million tonnes of South African coal was shipped to big coal consumer India last year, up from 30 million tonnes in 2014.

“As far as South African coal for India, it is definitely on a growth path. How long and how much is yet to be seen,” Arun Maheshwari, senior vice president commercial for Indian firm JSW Steel, told a coal conference in Cape Town.

Global oversupply and a drop in coal prices to 7-year lows have hit miners and coal exporting countries hard.

Indonesian coal exports fell 50 million tonnes in 2015 due to the market glut and Chinese slowdown.