German Coal Imports May Fall Sharply This Year

According to the latest forecast by the German Coal Import Association, a combination of falling demand for electricity caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, falling costs for natural gas and higher carbon prices in the European Union is expected to result in a 40 per cent year-on-year drop in Coal imports this year.

"We forecast that Germany will import between 17.5m and 22.5m tonnes of thermal coal this year," said FranzJosefWodopia, the director-general of the German coal import association.

At one point in 2016, German thermal coal imports reached 43 million tons, according to the data. And in recent years, Germany imports coal total quantity to appear continuously drop. In June, the German parliament announced it had approved a law on the phase-out of coal power and planned to complete the first four gigawatts of compensation auctions in September.

Coal accounted for just 6.4% of Germany's electricity supply in the first half of this year, down from 9.9% in the same period last year, according to BDEW, a German electricity agency. Meanwhile, the share of electricity generated by natural gas rose to 16% from 14% in 2019. In the first half of this year, renewable energy accounted for about 50% of Germany's electricity supply, while lignite and nuclear power accounted for about 27%.

In response, the German Coal Import Association called for an "unbiased assessment" of the phasing-out of coal at compensation auctions for modern hard coal plants.

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