November 21, 2008

Korea Power to increase coal imports in 2008 by 15%

Reuters reported that South Korea state utility Korea Electric Power Corp is planning to boost coal imports by 15% in 2008 with a trebling in shipments from South Africa more than offsetting lower Chinese supplies. The increase in coal imports comes as Korea Electric Power Corp plans to build an additional 1,500 MW to 2,300 MW of coal fired power plants by the end of this year to meet growing domestic demand.

Korea Electric Power Corp said that its five power utilities will import 63.65 million tonnes of bituminous coal in 2008 up from 55.28 million tonnes a year ago.
1. Increase Australian coal import to 21.14 million tonnes up from 15.14 million tonnes in 2007
2. Decrease imports of Chinese coal by a quarter to 6.93 million tonnes in 2008.
3. Imports from South Africa will increase to 13.9 million tonnes in 2008 about three times higher than the 4.4 million tonnes imported in 2007.

Korea Electric Power Corp also said that it had already contracted to buy about 91% of its expected demand, a big shift from last year when annual deals covered only 76% of imports.

Coal fires about 36% of South Korea's power plants, while nuclear power is its biggest source of electricity with 39%.