By Reuters
April 6, 20112:20 PM GMT
- Summary
- March exports rise m/m but fall slightly vs March last year
- SA targets 65Mt in 2011; industry says unlikely
JOHANNESBURG, April 6 (Reuters) – South Africa’s coal exports rose to 5.36Mt in March from 4.57Mt the previous month, RBCT data showed on Wednesday.
The figure compares with 5.66Mt shipped in the same month last year.
South Africa exported a total of 63.43Mt of coal last year, boosted by demand from China and India, but far below RBCT’s expanded capacity of 91Mt.
Coal exports have been hampered by rail bottlenecks on the lines linking RBCT with the mines.
SA freight logistics group Transnet has said it would manage to rail 65Mt this year, but derailments on the lines in recent months have raised doubts about that target.
RBCT exported 14.32Mt of coal so far this year, compared with 15.46Mt at the same time last year.
The latest derailment lost around 500,000 tons of export coal, industry sources said last week, and shut two of the rail lines. One of the lines has since been reopened, but repairs on the other were ongoing.
Stocks at the terminal were at 3.08Mt at the end of March this year, RBCT said.