87% of SA coal to Europe and Asia in 2009

Richards Bay, South Africa — MININGREVIEW.COM — 07 January 2010 – The Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) “’ through which almost all of South Africa’s coal exports are routed “’ has revealed that 46% of the coal it exported in 2009 went to Europe and 41% was shipped to Asia.

“India received 29% and 2% went to China,” RBCT’s chief executive officer Raymond Chirwa said in an e-mailed statement. “The terminal shipped a total of 61.14 million metric tonnes last year.

“The significant changing factor is that the Asian market is growing while the European one is declining,” Chirwa said. The terminal didn’t give comparative figures for the year earlier.

The Richards Bay Coal Terminal is owned by the country’s biggest coal exporters, including Anglo American Plc, Xstrata Plc and BHP Billiton Limited.