Vietnam first-half coal imports surge to record high as power demand grows

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s coal imports in the first half of this year surged by more than 50% to a record high, government data showed on Monday, mostly to feed the country’s growing number of coal-fired power plants. Coal imports in the January-June period rose 53.8% from a year earlier to 31.57 million tonnes, the Customs Department said in a statement.