Japan's coal demand seen recover in H2

Japan's coal demand is expected to recover in the second half as industry and coal-fired power plants there are recovering from devastating earthquake and tsunami in March, said an industry official as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia.

"There had been many Indonesian coal cargoes to Japan canceled after the tsunami. There were about 5-6 million tonnes of shipments to Japan were canceled then but the country has been recovering since then," said Supriatna Suhala, executive director of the Indonesian Coal Association said.

Japan is expected to import between 28-30 million tonnes this year or a third of the country's total coal demand at 90 million tonnes.

Apart from Japan, demand for Indonesian coal from China and India have also remained strong. China is expected to import 36-38 million tones while India is expected to take up 34-36 million tonnes.

Indonesia also ships the fuel to other countries to Southeast Asia including Malaysia, the Phillippine, Thailand and Vietnam.

"Middle Ease countries are also eying to imports Indonesia coal," Supriatna said, adding Indonesia has started to ship the fuel to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Indonesian coal producers are expected to churn out 170 million tonnes of coal in the first half of this year or about half of planned production for the full year 2011 at 340 million tonnes, said Supriatna.

About 23 percent or 78.97 million tonnes of the coal will be sold to domestic buyers. (*)