Bangladeshi coal-fired generation rose by 52.5pc on the year to 1.29GW in April, according to grid operator PGCB.
This translates into coal burn of 413,000t, assuming an average quality of 5,000 kcal/kg and plant efficiency of 40pc. Bangladesh typically consumes GAR 5,000 kcal/kg thermal coal, according to market participants
Bangladesh's overall electricity output reached 10.7GW in April, with coal taking a 12.1pc share, up from 7pc a year earlier.
In the first quarter, coal-fired generation increased by 83.3pc on the year to 1.1GW.
Argus estimates Bangladesh's coal capacity at 3.5GW, with an additional 1.2GW being tested.
Capacity is split over four plants. These include the 1.32GW Rampal facility, a 50:50 joint-venture between state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and India's state-owned National Thermal Power. The latter is not responsible for coal procurement at Rampal, a market participant said.
Coal shortages
Rampal, the 1.32GW Payra and 125MW Barapukria 1 units are all contending with coal shortages, according to PGCB generation data for 1 June.
BPDB's 525MW Barapukuria is the only plant in Bangladesh to run on domestically produced coal. Its 125MW unit 2 is under maintenance, but the other 275MW is operating normally, according to PGCB data.
Exporting coal to Bangladesh is a "challenge", one trader said, because few participants accept letters of credit from Bangladeshi banks and often have to approach Singaporean banks instead.
There are two main suppliers to Bangladesh, one Indonesian coal trader said, but some buyers are defaulting after coal has loaded because of the recent fall in prices, and this is deterring sellers.
An additional 748MW will be supplied to Bangladesh from Indian utility Adani's 800MW Godda power plant in Jharkhand, India. This plant is under testing and will run on imported coal.
PGCB did not publish fuel cost data for April, but in March Bangladesh spent 5.8bn taka on coal, or $54mn based on today's exchange rate. Assuming this represents the cost of imported coal and based on a coal burn of 265,000t, Argus estimates Bangladesh's coal cost at $203.40/t in March.
Thermal coal imports firm
Bangladesh's thermal coal imports increased by 25.9pc on the year to 0.66mn t in May, according to shipping data.
Imports in January-May reached 3.8mn t, up by 18.8pc.
Indonesia was the key supplier, making up 89.5pc of deliveries. Shipping data suggest some coal might have arrived from China and Poland, and that 51,000t arrived from Australia in March.
Bangladesh has not imported South African coal since November 2022 or Russian coal since March 2022, shipping data show.
Chittagong is the main port of entry for thermal coal, with 2.9mn t arriving in January-May, or 76.3pc of total receipts.
The Payra plant takes coal directly and received 0.7mn t in January-May, down from 0.95mn t in the same period last year. Payra did not take any coal in February and March.
