Carvão
Visão geral
Os preços globais do carvão térmico subiram para níveis recordes em 2022, vivendo volatilidade sem precedentes. Desde então, os preços começaram a cair à medida que os riscos associados ao fornecimento da Europa diminuíram. Em um nível global, a demanda por carvão permanece robusta, com a segurança do fornecimento subindo na agenda de muitos governos à luz da agitação geopolítica.
Na Europa, as sanções deslocaram a mistura de importação de carvão da região da Rússia para outros fornecedores. O ritmo de redução gradual das usinas de carvão na região deve aumentar nos próximos anos, com o papel do carvão na mistura de eletricidade se deslocando ainda mais para o uso de pico de carga, tornando o planejamento futuro mais desafiador.
Na Ásia-Pacífico, o carvão térmico continua sendo um pilar dos setores de energia e industrial. Os fluxos comerciais globais de carvão e os spreads de preços estão mudando, com fluxos de fornecedores-chave Rússia, Indonésia, Austrália, África do Sul, Colômbia e EUA penetrando novos mercados, em resposta à dinâmica de preços e barreiras comerciais.
Manter-se a par dos preços e fluxos, e de como os mercados de carvão se cruzam com outros índices de referência de energia e commodities, será fundamental nos próximos anos.
Últimas notícias
Navegue pelas últimas notícias do mercado sobre a indústria global do carvão.
Mideast fuel risks likely to boost Japan’s nuclear push
Mideast fuel risks likely to boost Japan’s nuclear push
Osaka, 21 April (Argus) — Nuclear power could gain further momentum in Japan's energy security strategy, because recent disruptions to crude and LNG supplies from the Middle East have underscored its importance in the resource-poor country, especially as Tokyo pushes for decarbonisation. Japan has so far secured sufficient crude volumes by releasing emergency stockpiles and sourcing alternative cargoes. But the disruptions have exposed the hard reality of Japan's fuel security, which has compelled the country to increase coal-fired output to conserve LNG for power generation, while it grapples with distribution bottlenecks in petroleum products and oil-derived goods essential to a wider range of industries. Nuclear energy is a price-insulated and domestically controllable source of baseload power, despite its safety issues and political sensitivity. Rising tensions in the Middle East have once again highlighted the magnitude of the social and economic impact that can arise when energy supply risks materialise, Akio Mimura, chairman of Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, said in his opening remarks at the group's annual conference on 14 April, adding that nuclear is as a "quasi-domestic energy source". Japan holds roughly three years' worth of uranium stocks, Mimura said. This is compared with crude and oil product reserves covering 243 days of consumption at the end of February, before the onset of the Middle East conflict, as well as LNG inventories equivalent to roughly three weeks of demand. Mimura emphasised nuclear power's supply stability and self-reliance, as well as its role as a decarbonised energy source unaffected by weather conditions. A 1GW reactor can reduce consumption of natural gas by 850,000 t/yr, oil by 1.55mn kl/yr (26,710 b/d) and coal by 2.22mn t/yr, according to estimates by the trade and industry ministry Meti in June 2024. Japan's prime minister Sanae Takaichi has aggressively promoted the use of nuclear power well before the Middle East conflict disrupted fuel flows through the strait of Hormuz, citing the need to lower electricity bills. The recent war-driven rise in spot prices for crude, LNG and coal is expected to push up Japan's import costs for such fuels in March-April and be passed onto retail electricity bills from June, during the summer peak demand season. It remains unclear whether Tokyo will resume subsidies for power and gas utility costs, which ended at the end of March. Japan currently has 33 nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 33GW, but only 15 reactors are operational after passing stricter safety reviews by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) and securing approval from local authorities. The latest reactor brought back on line is the 1.4GW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No.6 unit , which resumed commercial operations on 16 April after a 14-year hiatus following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. The government has updated its nuclear policy to enable more effective use of existing reactors, including extending their lifetimes beyond the 60-year limit by excluding offline periods, such as those for safety inspections and count injunctions, from service-life calculations. The NRA earlier this month revised the deadline for installing anti-terrorism facilities, shifting the start of the five-year transitional period from the approval of construction plans to the date of pre-operational inspections for reactors not yet subject to the original deadline. The NRA's latest decision would allow the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa No.6 reactor to operate until April 2031, instead of September 2029 under the current rules, while plant operator Tokyo Electric Power plans to complete the counter-terrorism work in September 2031. Nuclear supply from the No.6 reactor is expected to reduce LNG consumption by around 1.1mn t/yr, Takaichi said in late March. This would cover around 30pc of Japan's LNG imports passing through the strait of Hormuz, Meti minister Ryosei Akazawa said on 14 April. Japan's strategic energy plan targets nuclear power to account for 20pc of the power mix in the April 2040-March 2041 fiscal year, up from 11pc in 2024-25, as part of efforts to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 73pc from 2013-14 levels. The country's GHG emissions stood at 994mn t of CO2 in 2024-25 , down by 29pc from the baseline year, environment ministry data released on 14 April show. By Motoko Hasegawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Kazakhstan, Mongolia to boost coal co-operation
Kazakhstan, Mongolia to boost coal co-operation
London, 20 April (Argus) — Kazakhstan and Mongolia held discussions today to boost co-operation in various energy sectors, including coal. Kazakhstan's energy minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov met with Mongolia's industry and mineral resources minister Gongoryn Damdinnyam to discuss ways in which the two countries can develop their energy sectors. The discussions included jointly developing projects for deep coal processing and analysing coal specifications. Countries in central Asia have recently pushed for developments in their respective coal sectors, with several having already received investments from China , Russia and the US . Kazakhstan plans to produce 128.9mn t of coal this year which, if achieved, would represent an 11pc increase from 115.9mn t produced in 2025. Kazakhstan is the largest coal producer in central Asia and aims to aggressively ramp up coal production this year to increase coal-fired power generation as part of a national project . The country aims to increase exports of thermal coal after shipping around 30mn t last year to Russia, Poland, Uzbekistan, Turkey, India and Malaysia. Mongolia exported 27.5mn t of coal in January-March, up by 57pc on the year, all to China. The country did, however, set a more conservative target of 90mn t coal production earlier this year, likely because of the risk of falling metallurgical coal demand from Chinese steelmakers. Separately, Kazakhstan plans to cut emissions from coal-fired power plants by just over a third as part of its national project starting this year, the energy ministry announced today. This will be achieved by modernising existing coal plants and using modern equipment to build its new fleet of supercritical coal-fired power plants. By Shreyashi Sanyal Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Indonesia raises HBA coal prices across all grades
Indonesia raises HBA coal prices across all grades
Singapore, 16 April (Argus) — Indonesia has raised its government-calculated coal reference prices (HBA) across all grades for the second fortnight of April from the previous fortnight. The HBA price for high-calorific value (CV) GAR 6,322 kcal/kg coal was set at $103.43/t, up by 3.5pc from $99.87/t in the first half of April. The HBA I, which serves as the price for mid-CV GAR 5,300 kcal/kg coal, was set at $77.71/t, up by 7.5pc from $72.28/t previously. The HBA II, which is the price for low-CV GAR 4,100 kcal/kg coal, was set at $52.84/t, up by 5.7pc from $49.99/t in the first half of April. The HBA III, which covers ultra-low CV GAR 3,400 kcal/kg coal, was up by 8.7pc at $38.30/t from $35.23/t previously. HBA prices are primarily used to calculate royalty payments made by coal producers to the government. Argus last assessed the weekly price of Indonesian GAR 6,500 kcal/kg coal at $115.93/t fob Kalimantan on 10 April. Mid-CV GAR 5,000 kcal/kg coal was assessed at $75.36/t fob Kalimantan on 10 April, while GAR 4,200 kcal/kg prices for geared Supramaxes were assessed at $59.31/t fob Kalimantan. GAR 3,400 kcal/kg coal was marked at $35.95/t fob Kalimantan on 10 April. By Ajay Modi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan's chemicals sector likely to reduce coal demand
Japan's chemicals sector likely to reduce coal demand
Singapore, 15 April (Argus) — A slowdown in petrochemical production in Japan is likely to cut the sector's demand for thermal coal imports. Naphtha-fed crackers in the country have mostly avoided any halt in production caused by supply disruptions, but a few firms have reduced output. Some of the firms that have reduced production include Mitsui Chemicals and Idemitsu. Japan relies on the Middle East for naphtha imports, but supply has been disrupted by the US/Israel-Iran war. But the country is ready to meet domestic requirements for petrochemical products derived from naphtha for at least six months, Japan's ministry for economy, trade and industry (Meti) said. Firms running naphtha-fed crackers are expected to reduce their procurement of thermal coal because of the slowdown and the tight supply of feedstocks, a Japanese trader that supplies thermal coal to chemical firms in the country said. Petrochemical firms usually import bituminous NAR 6,000 kcal/kg coal from Australia for their captive power plants. Thermal coal imports by Japan's petrochemicals sector are estimated to be around 4.5mn t/yr, according to market sources. This is a small percentage, around 3pc, of the country's overall coal imports of 140mn-160mn t/yr, according to customs data from Japan's ministry of finance. A potential cut in coal imports by the sector due to run cuts could be expanded by the shift away from coal by petrochemical companies to using alternative fuels for operations to reduce CO2 emissions. Japanese petrochemical firm Tosoh will start its captive 74MW biomass-fired power plant by end of April the company told Argus on 10 April. The plant is expected to co-fire 50pc of biomass with coal before transitioning to 100pc biomass in 2030. The captive power plant is designed to utilise a combined 360,000-410,000 t/yr of imported wood pellets, construction waste, paper and plastic waste, and coal, according to Tosoh. Tosoh also reduced its coal consumption by shutting down its aging 62MW thermal coal captive power plant, which began operations in 1963. The petrochemical company halted its cracker in central Japan on 4 March for regular maintenance, which was scheduled before the US-Iran war. The cracker was originally planned to restart around 20 April. Tosoh has ensured that it will resume its cracker's operations around the end of April , said the company on 8 April. Power sector demand in Japan But Japanese demand for thermal coal from the power sector is likely to increase in the near term on the back of Meti's temporary removal of restrictions on the operations of inefficient coal-fired power plants in the 2026-27 fiscal year. The removal of restrictions has already led to some enquiries from Japanese utilities. Thermal coal demand from Japan over the past week was focused on increasing annual term supplies. A Japanese utility sought about 2.8mn t of imported thermal coal for a year through a term contract, which likely remains under negotiation. It is seeking another 500,000t of coal in addition to the annual supplies under discussion. Another Japanese utility sought up to two June-July-loading Panamax cargoes of high-CV coal for one of its older, less efficient power plants, a market source said. The utility may have awarded Indonesian high-CV coal for this tender, but details and prices could not be confirmed. By Nadhir Mokhtar Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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