PUBLICATION:
Bloomberg
JOURNALIST: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen
DATE:
2008-07-02 23:26:20.08 (New York)
July 3 (Bloomberg)
-- Vietnam, China's biggest overseas
coal supplier, will cut overall exports
of the fuel by as much
as 38 percent to 20 million metric tons this year to
ensure
domestic supplies.
The Southeast Asian nation will reduce its
2008 shipments
from more than 32 million tons last year, Nguyen Thanh
Bien,
vice minister of industry and trade, said at a government
meeting in
Hanoi yesterday.
A cut in Vietnamese coal exports would force
southern
Chinese power producers to transport fuel from northern mines
or
import it from further afield. Coal accounts for about 78
percent of
the nation's power generation.
``We need to save the fuel for the
consumption of the
domestic energy industry,'' Bien said.
Coal
exports in the first half fell to almost 14 million
tons from 16.3 million
tons a year earlier, according to Bien.
The government last month raised the
export duty on coal to 20
percent from 15 percent to reduce
shipments.
Vietnam's coal production totaled more than 41 million
tons
last year, up 11.5 percent from 2006.
For related news:
On top
commodity stories: CTOP <GO>
--Editors: Ryan Woo, Jane
Lee.
