The Viet Nam  Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) targets to sell 11 million tonnes of coal in the last three months of this year, including 3-3.5 million tonnes for export, based on forecasts of increasing domestic demand for the fossil fuel.

Exploiting coal (Source: vinacomin.vn)

Vinacomin Deputy Director General Nguyen Van Bien announced the goal at a press conference in Hanoi on October 21, recapping the corporation’s trading and production in the first nine months of the year and its business plan in the fourth quarter.

He noted that demand for coal serving domestic thermoelectricity power plants is expected to surge in the dry season, while coal-export tax has been reduced to 10 percent from 13 percent in the first half of the year, thus facilitating exports.

The group’s coal sale in the third quarter only fulfilled 15.6 percent of the entire year’s target, down 40 percent from the previous months due to a reduction in domestic coal consumption and dropping export price.

In the January-September period, Vinacomin earned 39 trillion VND (1.83 billion USD) in turnover and made a 1.5 trillion VND (70.5 million USD) profit.

This year, the group strives to sell more than 39 million tonnes of coal, equivalent to last year’s aggregate figure, including 11.5 million tonnes for export, a year-on-year decrease of three million tonnes.

(Source: Vietnamplus)