Richards Bay coal exports take a dip in September

Shipments at Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), Africa’s largest export facility for the fuel, fell 7.5% last month on weak demand from Europe and Asia. Deliveries from the port dropped to 4.96-million tones in September from 5.36-mt a year earlier, RBCT said on its website. “It is principally a demand issue,” Bevan Jones at London Commodity Brokers told Bloomberg. “We’re seeing a lot of cargoes available and not many buyers. Producers have to sell at a significant discount and they’re not prepared to do that.” European power stations “seem to be very well stocked” and buyers from India, the main destination for South African thermal coal, and China are “cautious,” Jones added.