VietNam digging itself into a hole with coal exports

Local experts have warned that the country’s coal reserves could be exhausted by 2015, creating a dependency on expensive imported coal.

As the country is currently selling coal at a cheaper export price than import, Vietnam may end up buying back some of its coal at a higher price if national reserves are exhausted.
At the current rate of exploitation and export, supplies may run dry even earlier than 2015, experts have warned.

Vietnam exported 32.5 million tonnes of coal last year, bringing in just over US$1 billion. With coal needed to run thermo-power plants, that money would be enough to buy back just 7.5 million tonnes at the rising world price.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment had already warned back in 2006 that the imminent exhaustion of reserves would badly impact energy security.

VietNamNet