VN orders shift of local-use coal prices toward global rates
National coal monopoly Vinacomin will no longer be allowed to sell coal domestically at the cheap prices it has been offering, according to a statement posted on the government website Wednesday.
According to the statement, the price of coal for domestic consumption will be 10 percent cheaper than export prices at the lowest.
The move aims to establish market-oriented prices for the domestic coal market, the statement reported, citing a note from Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
Coal sold to domestic users, excepting coal sold to power plants, must cost closer to market rates to conserve coal and prevent the illegal export of the resource, the website said.
Dung also ordered Vietnam National Coal-Mineral Industries Group, known as Vinacomin, to begin selling coal to power plants, the biggest coal users, at market-oriented prices next year, according to the website.
In the first seven months of this year, Vietnam consumed 11.2 million tons of coal, a 1.8 percent year-on-year increase, with purchases by power plants declining 7 percent to 3.64 million tons, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
Cement and fertilizer makers bought 2.13 million and 310,000 tons, up 7.7 percent and 10.6 percent respectively.
Vietnam is a key coal supplier to China and Japan. The country exported a total of 14.2 million tons in the January-July period, down 2.8 percent from a year earlier.
Vinacomin said local coal consumption would reach 94 million tons in 2015 while total output would be only 60 million tons. Demand would increase to 184 million tons in 2020 and output would be 70 million tons, Sai Gon Tiep Thi reported Tuesday.
thanhnien
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