Minister Nguyen Hong Dien worked with the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to find a stable source of imported coal of high quality.
In a meeting with Mr. Mpetjane Kgaogelo Lekgoro, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to Vietnam on the morning of April 2, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that Vietnam has a great demand for raw materials, in there is coal. The diversification and sourcing of potential coal is an urgent requirement today.
South Africa currently produces nearly 260 million tons of coal in 2020, of which exports account for about 30%. The types of coal produced by South Africa are coal of good quality, with technical regulations suitable to the technology of coal-fired power plants and the manufacturing industry of Vietnam.
Therefore, the Minister asked the South African Ambassador to support in introducing and connecting potential South African partners in the coal and mineral fields with large Vietnamese enterprises such as Vietnam Coal and Minerals Industry Group, Vietnam Electricity Group, Dong Bac Corporation… to sign the contract and bring coal shipments to Vietnam in April and May.
In response, Ambassador Mpetjane Kgaogelo Lekgoro affirmed that he would immediately discuss with the South African Ministry of Natural Resources and Minerals on the supply of coal to Vietnam as well as support to connect coal import and export businesses of the two countries. In addition, Ambassador Mpetjane Kgaogelo Lekgoro also suggested that the Vietnamese side create favorable conditions so that some of South Africa’s strong products can access the Vietnamese market.
Currently, trade turnover between Vietnam and South Africa remains stable at over 1.39 billion USD. South Africa is also the largest trading partner and the largest export market of Vietnam in Africa.
Earlier, on April 1, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien chaired many important meetings to solve the shortage of coal for power production.
According to the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), in the first quarter of 2022, there was a shortage of 1.36 million tons of coal supplied to EVN’s thermal power plants. Due to the lack of coal supply and low inventories, by the end of March 2022, many coal-fired power plants of EVN had to be stopped and deflated, causing a shortage of more than 3,000 MW of coal-fired power in the entire national power system. .
Meanwhile, in the coming time, especially during the peak heat of the dry season in 2022, the production of electricity from coal fuel plays a very important role in ensuring electricity supply, especially in the coming months 4, 5, 6, 7 in the North region.