Taiwan Coal Imports Rise 7% on China Steel's Shipment

By Yu-huay Sun

Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Taiwan, which imports all of its coal, boosted shipments of the commodity by 7 percent in July from a year earlier after China Steel Corp. brought in supplies delayed from June.

Imports of coal, used in power generation and steel making, reached 6.21 million metric tons, the Bureau of Energy said in an e-mailed report today. Coal imports fell 14 percent in June.

Taiwan generates about 40 percent of its electricity from thermal coal. China Steel Corp., Taiwan's biggest maker of the metal, shut its No. 1 blast furnace for 12 days in June because of a faulty cooling box, according to spokesman Chung Le-min.

China Steel, based in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, pushed back June shipments of coking coal after it closed the furnace, Alan Wang, a planning official at the energy bureau, said by telephone in Taipei today.

The island in July used 5.77 million tons of coal, a 2.6 percent decline from a year earlier, the bureau said.

To contact the reporter on the story: Yu-huay Sun in Taipei ysun7@bloomberg.net