The Industrial Economic Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment has proposed raising the tax on coal exports to 5-10 per cent from the current 0 per cent in order to limit outbound shipment.
Under the proposal, coal should be kept in reserve to run big thermo-power plants which will become operational in Vietnam in the near future.
Also, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MoNRE) has recently urged the reduction of coal exports to serve the nation’s economic development, especially in the context that the demand for energy is rapidly increasing while the supply is becoming exhausted.
Fossil coal is not recyclable, and has become more difficult to exploit, as well as having been more and more expensive, the ministry said.
MoNRE suggested that Vietnam should export a certain amount of coal to earn enough money to pay for machinery imports. In addition, the limitation of coal exploitation will help protect the environment and preserve Ha Long Bay, a world natural heritage in Quang Ninh province which holds the largest coal reserves in Vietnam.
In the first eight months of the year, the country exploited 24.5 million tons of coal, an increase of 20.7 per cent on-year. It shipped 17.3 million tons abroad, an on-year rise of 64.7 per cent, earning $541 million.
The Vietnam Coal Corporation, the country’s largest coal producer, said the coal reserves of the Quang Ninh mine are around 6.5-7 billion tons at the depth of some 350 meters.
The volume of exported coal witnessed a beyond-expectation increase in the period of 2001-2005. Total outbound shipment were 15 million tons in 2005, compared with four million tons a year as targeted.
Under the export program for 2006-2010 period approved by the Prime Minister recently, exports of fuels including crude oil and fossil coal will be gradually reduced. Specifically, coal shipments will be kept at 11 million tons in 2006-2007, decreased to 10 million tons in 2008, and to 9 million and 8 million tons in 2009 and 2010, respectively. VietNamNet
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