Bloomberg reported that shipments at Richards Bay Coal Terminal, Africa largest export facility for the fuel fell 7.5%last month on weak demand from Europe and Asia.

RBCT said deliveries from the port on South Africa northeast coast dropped to 4.96 million tonnes in September from 5.36 million tons a year earlier.

Mr Bevan Jones at London Commodity Brokers said “It is principally a demand issue. We’re seeing a lot of cargoes available and not many buyers. Producers have to sell at a significant discount and they’re not prepared to do that. European power stations seem to be very well stocked and buyers from India, the main destination for South African thermal coal and China are cautious.”

According to IHS McCloskey data on Bloomberg, prices for coal traded through RBCT declined 1.4% to an average USD 115.77 a ton in September from a month earlier and gained 34.9% from the same period in the previous year.

According to RBCT the port whose owners include BHP Billiton Ltd and Anglo American Plc received 6.25 million tons of coal in the month and had stocks of 5 million tonnes which didn’t give a reason for the drop in September shipments.

It has capacity to export 91 million tons annually.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)