Malaysia's thermal coal imports slightly on the year in May as coal-fired generation increased.

Thermal coal imports — including non-coking bituminous coal, sub-bituminous coal and lignite — rose by 3pc to 3.27mn t in May from 3.17mn t a year earlier, customs data show. Imports increased by 29pc from April.

Malaysia imported 14.8mn t in January-May, up by 3.9pc from around 14.3mn t in the same period last year.

Indonesian coal accounted for about 72.8pc of Malaysia's imports in May, at 2.38mn t. This is down by 3.8pc on the year, but up by 6pc from April.

Receipts from Australia more than doubled to 646,000t in May from 316,000t a year earlier. This was also up from 165,000t in March. Shipments from Australia accounted for nearly 20pc of Malaysia's imports in May.

Russian receipts reached nearly 219,000t in May, up by about 13pc on the year and by 24.2pc on the month. Russian coal accounted for 6.7pc of total imports in May.

Power generation

Malaysia was still affected by the southwest monsoon season in May, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said. The east coast of peninsular Malaysia and Sabah on Malaysian Borneo received higher rainfall at over 60pc above average.

But the weather stayed hot in May. Average temperatures ranged from 26-30°C, with peaks reaching 36.2°C in the month, which likely drove demand for coal as a generation fuel.

Coal-fired generation averaged 9.8GWh in May, up from 9.72GWh a year earlier but down from 9.9GWh in April, according to data from the Malaysian Electricity Supply Industry (MESI).

Coal-fired generation accounted for 57.5pc of Malaysia's power mix in May, down from 59.5pc a year earlier, MESI data show.

By Nadhir Mokhtar