Demand for high-quality Australian coal continues to grow throughout South East Asia with exports to Thailand four times higher in April 2016 compared to April 2015.

Australian coal exports to Thailand grew from 142,821 tonnes in April 2015 to 556,487t in April 2016, according to Platts.

From the period January to April, Australian coal exports to Thailand rose 20% cent to 1.37Mt year on year.

The figures demonstrate that developing nations in South East Asia require high quality coal to meet increased electricity demand, powered by the growing urbanisation of the population, the Minerals Council of Australia said.

There are around 361 million people in the South East Asian region that have no electricity

according to the International Energy Agency.

Australian coal exports are perfectly positioned to help play a central role in helping reduce energy poverty, MCA coal director Greg Evans said.

“The IEA forecast that Australia’s exports of coal will grow by 36.7% to 2040, increasing the Australian share of the global coal trade from 29% in 2013 to 33% in 2040,” he said.

Now Hogsback is also partial to a rice paper roll or two and some from the local Vietnamese, so he was delighted to discover that Australia is ramping up the coal exports to that country as well.

Figures by Platts which show a 538.8% increase in Vietnamese demand in February 2016 compared to February 2015.

Vietnam like other South East Asian countries is embarking upon a major electrification program as it seeks to support its economic expansion, Evans said.

“Platts noted the South-East Asian nation, traditionally a coal exporter has turned to imports to meet rising domestic demand, particularly from the power sector and this includes the construction of the most modern and clean coal-fired High Efficiency Low Emission or (HELE) generation technology,” he said.

“It indicated the state-owned Vietnam Electricity, or EVN, added more than 3,400 MW of capacity from new coal-fired power plants in 2015 and these power plants consume nearly 10 mt/year of coal.”

The IEA forecast that demand for coal in Southeast Asia specifically will grow by 4.6% per year until 2040, with the share of coal in electricity generation expected to increase from 32% to 40%.

Australia’s high quality coal reduces emissions from coal-fired power stations because less of it is required to generate the same unit of energy compared to lower-quality coals, Evans said.

“Arguing for restricting the development of Australian coal mines promotes coal from other countries whose coal is of a lower quality,” he said.

Exporting good Aussie quality coal is a mutually beneficial way of helping our neighbours to the north with low ash feedstock for their power stations that would help them to industrialise with minimum environmental damage.

With that thought, Hogsback will enjoy his next Thai curry even more now.