Argus Media
Moroccan thermal coal imports from Russia rose by 11pc on the year to 3.88mn t in 2018 amid increased demand, Global Trade Tracker data show. Morocco’s total thermal coal imports were up by 24pc on the year at 8.42mn t in 2018.
But the share of Russian coal in Morocco’s total thermal coal imports decreased to 46pc last year from over 51pc in 2017, as Morocco switched to buying more competitively priced coal from the US. Imports from the US increased by 60pc to 3.98mn t last year. As a result the US has replaced Russia as the largest coal supplier to Morocco, amid special agreements for sales and lower prices.
Russian suppliers lower their prices to compete in Morocco. At the end of February a local utility procured a 30,000t parcel of Russian high-grade thermal coal from a European trading firm at a discount to the API 2 index on a cif Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp basis, while trades to Morocco used to be done at a premium to the index last year.
Russian thermal coal exports to Morocco are mostly shipped from Kuzbassrazrezugol (Kru) and Suek to local utilities Taqa Morocco and Onee, Russian customs data show. Suek usually ships Russian coal to Morocco from the Barents Sea port of Murmansk, while Kru delivers coal through Vysotsk and Ust-Luga. Russian mining firms SDS-Ugol, Russian Coal, Topprom, Mayrykhsky opencast and Promugolservis also shipped coal to the country.
Find more news, price information and market analysis on Russian coal exports in Argus Russian Coal report.
