South African thermal coal is the most index transparent product we handle. Richards Bay Coal Terminal is the physical anchor of the API4 index, which means a buyer can check our pricing against a published number rather than take it on trust.
RB1, RB2 and RB3 grade thermal coal from the Mpumalanga and Waterberg coalfields, railed to the export terminals. RB1 is the premium export grade at 6,000 kcal/kg NAR and low ash. RB2 and RB3 step down in calorific value and step up in ash and volatiles, and they exist because a large part of the world's fleet of power stations is designed around exactly that envelope.
| Grades | RB1, RB2, RB3 |
|---|---|
| Calorific value | 5,500 to 6,000 kcal/kg NAR depending on grade |
| Sulphur | Typically under 1% |
| Ash | Grade dependent, declared on certificate of analysis |
| Sizing | 0 to 50mm standard export sizing |
| Terms | FOB Richards Bay Coal Terminal; FOB Maputo; CFR destination by arrangement |
| Vessels | Panamax and Capesize; Supramax through Maputo |
| Volumes | From 55,000 MT per cargo; annual programmes by agreement |
| Pricing | On application, referenced to API4 |
Coal is a cargo business, not a parcel business. The economics only work at Panamax scale and above, which is why the entry point is 55,000 MT. Below that the freight per tonne destroys the arbitrage and the buyer would be better served buying delivered from a trader who is already breaking bulk.
Terminal allocation is the real constraint in South African coal, not tonnes at the mine. A seller who cannot demonstrate an entitlement at Richards Bay or a booked slot at Maputo cannot perform, however good the coal is. We verify that before we circulate an offer.
Richards Bay Coal Terminal is the primary route and the one the index is built on. Maputo Port in Mozambique has become a genuine alternative for sellers without RBCT entitlement, at smaller vessel sizes and with a different cost stack. We have written at length on the trade off between the two, and it is worth reading before you fix a cargo.
If you produce or hold this material and you do not have a reliable route to a buyer, this is the side of the desk you want. Below is who we place it with and what we will need to know.
Power utilities, industrial offtakers and cargo traders
India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and regional African industrial buyers
30,000 MT Supramax cargoes through Maputo, 55,000 MT and above Panamax and Capesize through Richards Bay
You do not need all of this to make first contact. Rough figures are enough to get an answer.
Buyers for RB2 and RB3 are as real as buyers for RB1, because a large part of the installed generation fleet was designed around lower calorific value coal. Do not assume your mid grade product has no market.
They are South African export thermal coal grades separated mainly by calorific value and ash. RB1 is the premium grade at around 6,000 kcal/kg NAR with the lowest ash. RB2 and RB3 carry progressively lower calorific value and higher ash, and are priced at a discount to RB1.
55,000 MT, which is a Panamax cargo. Smaller lots are possible through Maputo but the freight economics rarely justify them.
Against the API4 index, which is the free on board Richards Bay benchmark, adjusted for grade, calorific value and delivery terms.
Yes. Maputo Port handles South African coal for sellers without Richards Bay Coal Terminal entitlement, typically at Supramax and small Panamax sizes. The trade off is vessel size and cost stack against terminal access.
Terminal access, not tonnage, is what stops most South African coal sellers. The Maputo route, the cargo sizes that work and what a buyer will ask you to prove.
Calorific value, ash and sulphur separate the three South African export coal grades. Why RB3 exists and how the API4 index prices the difference.
RBCT is one of the largest coal export terminals on earth and the physical anchor of the API4 index. What buyers of Panamax cargoes need to know.
Metallurgical chrome concentrate from the Bushveld Complex and Zimbabwe's Great Dyke, 40 to 42% and 46 to 48% Cr₂O₃, moving on FOT, DAP and FOB terms.
LME Grade A equivalent copper cathode and blister out of the Central African Copperbelt, routed through Dar es Salaam, Beira and Durban.
Kalahari Manganese Field ore at 36 to 44% Mn, lumpy and fines, delivered mine gate to FOB Coega and Port Elizabeth.
Send the grade, roughly how much you have and where it sits. You will know inside a trading day whether we have a buyer for it.