SA coal exports rise for first time in seven years

COAL exports through Richards Bay Coal Terminal increased 10% in 2024 to 52.1 million tons compared to just over 49Mt a year earlier.This is the first time coal exports have improved through the privately-owned terminal in seven years, according to a report by Bloomberg News.The improvement has been put down to a better performance from Transnet Freight Rail, a division of South Africa’s state-owned company, Transnet.The uplift comes amid reports, also from Bloomberg, that South African miners plan to spend billions of rands upgrading the Transnet rail lines.Citing, Ian Bird, head of transport and logistics for B4SA, a business advocacy group, the newswire said agreements between mining firms such as Glencore and Anglo American are being negotiated with Transnet.In the past, the parties have spoken about investing in infrastructure in return for usage rates. It appears as if miners have abandoned efforts to convince Government of concession-based investment.“We are now at a point where something has to be done,” Bird told Bloomberg in an interview. The state of the lines has an “impact on both Transnet Freight Rail and third-party operators,” he said.Transnet put the cost of repairing the coal line over three years, at about R12.9bn ($700m) and the iron-ore line at about R9bn. Repairing all Transnet’s tracks, including those used to transport containers and manganese, would requite R64.5bn over five years, Transnet said last year.Transnet last year posted an interim R2.2bn loss for the six months ended September, R600m worse than in the previous financial year.RBCT’s performance today wasn’t entirely a surprise.Coal exporter, Thungela Resources said in December it would deliver an above-forecast increase in export sales from South Africa in its financial year to end-December, largely due to an earlier-than-expected improvement in Transnet.Deon Smith, Thungela’s CFO, said the company would export 12.5Mt of coal from the country in 2024 compared to 11.9Mt in 2023.On an annualised basis coal exports in December were between 52 to 57Mt, said Sakkie Swanepoel, GM of marketing and logistics for Exxaro Resources.RBCT has budgeted for 55Mt for this year, said Bloomberg News.The post SA coal exports rise for first time in seven years appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com