South Korea July coal imports up

South Korea's imports of heating coal in July rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier, customs data showed on Monday. South Korea imported 8.97 million tonnes of coal in July, up from 8.65 million tonnes a year earlier, the Korea Customs Service said. However, the country imported a total of 50.34 million tonnes in the first seven months of this year, down 5 percent from the same period last year, the data showed.
While the country's coal imports for July rose from a year earlier, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in July fell for the seventh consecutive month from a year ago due to high stocks and low demand from local utilities, customs data also showed on Monday. LNG accounts for about 15 percent of power generation in South Korea.