Vietnam May Become Net Coal Importer By 2015

[hatrack]

The Coal and Mineral Group has drawn up the strategy on coal industry development for 2006-2015, which said that the demand is increasingly high. The consumption level will increase by 18.2% per annum in 2006-2010 and 8.65-10.3% in 2011-2025.

In 2006, Vietnam will need 18.8mil tonnes of coal, and the figure will rise to 31.8% in 2010, 50.7mil tonnes in 2015, 75.4mil tonnes in 2020, and 118.1mil tonnes in 2025. The biggest coal consumers will be power, cement, construction material enterprises and steel mills. Power and cement enterprises alone account for 60% of the total demand for coal.

Total reserves of coal are estimated at 3,625,966,000 tonnes. It is estimated that Vietnam will be exploiting 46mil tonnes/year by 2010, 50mil tonnes, by 2015, 57-63mil tonnes, by 2020 and 59-66mil tonnes, by 2025.

With the increased demand, Vietnam may have to import coal as of 2015. The total imports will be around 3.4mil tonnes in 2015, 19.7mil tonnes in 2020, and 57.4mil tonnes in 2025.

EDIT

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/biz/2006/10/628554/

[razors edge]

1. Concidering all the tunnels thay had to dig over the years

they probably located about all of it.