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Vietnam urged to import coal to run thermo-power plants
The strategy on the power industry development shows that a lot of power plants will be built up in the time to come and the demand for coal to run thermo-power plants will be very big.
According to the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin), the volume of coal committed to provide to power plants has far exceeded the domestic production capability. Therefore, the coal import is inevitable. At first, Vietnam intended to begin importing coal in 2013. However, since many power projects have been slow in implementation, the import schedule has been delayed to 2015.
However, the delay does not mean that investors still have much time to consider everything.
Director of the Heavy Industry Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) Nguyen Manh Quan said previously, enterprises complained that they found it very difficult to seek foreign coal supply sources. However, some potential markets have been found recently.
The MOIT’s official, who has returned from the working trip to Russia, has affirmed that Vietnam can find coal supply sources in the country. Russia is really a vast market which can offer different modes of supply. Vietnamese enterprises can either sign contracts with Russian partners under the mode of definitive purchases, cooperation in exploitation or they can even buy the whole mines. The most important characteristic of the Russian market is that the mines here belong to private owners who can make decisions quickly. The good news is that many Russian partners have expressed their will to cooperate with Vietnamese enterprises.
However, the sale price remains the headache for Vietnamese enterprises. They have been warned that if they do not keep cautious when defining the prices, they will suffer loss, because overly high prices will be unaffordable by domestic power plants.
According to Deputy General Director of the Electricity of Vietnam Duong Quang Thanh, at first, some partners offered to sell coal at $70 per ton, but they then pushed the price up to $120 per ton.
Another problem for Vinacomin is that the group still does not know to whom it will sell the coal it will import. Vinacomin has been assigned by the Government to import coal for thermo-power plants. However, to date, no one from power plants has come and placed order with Vinacomin.
To date, Vinacomin has signed 15 memorandums of understanding with coal suppliers. However, it seems that power plants’ investors prefer using domestic coal to imports, because domestic products have lower prices.
According to Director of the MOIT’s Energy Department Ta Van Huong, while Vinacomin is still hesitating to import coal, some other private enterprises have signed contracts with foreign partners on importing coal for 20 years.
Deputy Minister of MOIT Le Duong Quang has confirmed that An Vien Group and Vincom Group have expressed their will to help enterprises seek coal supply sources in Russia.
Experts have urged enterprises to begin seeking coal supply sources and kick off negotiations right now, because the year 2015 is nearing.
vietnamnet, Dau tu
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