Japan’s Coal Imports Soar Amid Surging Natural Gas Prices

Japan is set to import the highest quantity of coal in January in just over two years, as utilities scramble to get supplies for power generation amid high spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing intelligence firm Kpler and Japanese customs data. A cold and snowy winter in Japan has raised the electricity demand, and domestic utilities are looking to buy more coal for power generation. Japan is expected to import over 17.3 million tons of coal in January, according to Edwin Toh, a dry bulk manager at Kpler,…