[miningmx.com] – COAL stocks at Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) declined to 3.72 million tonnes (Mt) in November compared to 3.98Mt at of end-October amid slightly better pricing for South African coal.
Coal prices slumped last month to below US$80/t for certain cargoes but have since recovered. Between November 1 and November 30, the price of 6,000 kilo-calories of South African coal increased by nearly 17%, from $77/t to $90, according to a report in India’s Economic Times. Prices further inched up by $1 to $91/t in the first two days of December, it said.
During November, Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) improved deliveries to terminal following the end of a truck drivers strike.
Terminal data for November said some 6.49Mt in coal was shipped in November compared to 5.56Mt in October. Trains to Richards Bay by TFR increased to 766 from 694 in October. Received shipments of coal in November duly increased to 6.07Mt from 5.51Mt in October.
On an annualised basis, RBCT has now shipped 67Mt, an improvement on the annualised rate of 65.83Mt as of end-October.
Delivered tonnes on an annualised basis was 68Mt, barely unchanged from month-on-month, but below the 75Mt that Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), a division of state-owned logistics company Transnet, said was possible at the beginning of its financial year in April.
TFR said at the company’s interim stage in October that it hoped to achieve total coal deliveries to Richards Bay of 68Mt or more in its 2012/13 financial year. TFR has four months left of its calendar year to improve on its annualised deliveries to the terminal.
