Posted on 10/07/2025 3:27:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Colombia, Latin America's leading coal producer, reported a sharp drop in exports after President Gustavo Petro's government banned sales to Israel, the main buyer of Colombian coal.
In July, coal shipments fell by nearly half from the same month a year earlier. According to Colombia's National Administrative Department of Statistics, exports dropped 45.8% to $479.8 million, down from $885.8 million in July 2024.
From January to July, coal exports totaled $2.85 billion, a 35.5% drop from the $4.42 billion reported in the same period of 2023.
Colombia's coal export sector has faced a steady decline in revenue because of lower international prices and domestic policies, with sales falling by nearly half compared with 2022, when the country earned $12.2 billion.
While global prices have been pressured by increased coal production in Indonesia, export volumes began to drop in June 2024, when Petro ordered a halt to shipments to Israel to protest its war in Gaza. The decree excluded contracts approved before that date.
Last month, a second decree renewed the 2024 measure, specifying that beginning Aug. 28, the ban would apply "without exceptions" and "under any circumstances," the presidency said in a statement.
Another factor affecting the industry is that, as part of efforts to promote sustainability and renewable energy, the government has imposed higher taxes on coal.
In 2024, Petro cut diplomatic ties with Israel, calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "genocidal." He also halted purchases of Israeli weapons.
Petro said that despite the ban, coal ships continued to arrive in Israel because his officials disobeyed him, so last month he ordered the Colombian navy to prevent those shipments from leaving port.
"Colombia cannot be indifferent to the suffering of the Palestinian people. This is a concrete act to stop the escalation of war and a firm contribution from our country to world peace," Trade Minister Diana Marcela Morales Rojas said when announcing the measure.
The ban is based on three principles: respect for international law, protection of civilians and Colombia's role as a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council for the 2025-2027 term.
How stupid do you have to be to deliberately stop selling to your largest customer?
Any reason US isn’t exporting coal? With the shut down of so many plants, we are swimming in coal capacity. Maybe our price is more expensive.
I thought it was because of Biden.
“How stupid do you have to be to deliberately stop selling to your largest customer?”
Because Columbia is just a narco state and it’s biggest export is drugs and its biggest trade partner is the USA.
And the narcos are aligned with China and Islam.
Why would Israel burn coal? You’d think they would use gas or nuclear power.
The USA is the fourth largest exporter of coal in the world, but our coal is much higher in quality (and cost) and is mainly used for metallurgical reasons (e.g., steel).
71% of their power is from domestic natural gas
followed by coal at 14-15 and solar/wind at 14-15.
Surprisingly, their nuclear reactors are not used to generate electricity.
Politics. They decided against a big nuke plant because of concerns with sabotage.
They are moving away from coal to more nat gas and are working on small modular nuclear reactors.
We are. To China.
Fuel diversity.
Typical Latin American corrupt as hell government.
They can’t do basic economics.
To busy stealing everything.
Hey, we can pick up that slack! :-)
Wikipedia says Israel is trying to phase out all their coal plants.
“We are. To China.”
Mainly India, actually.
Our coal is very pure carbon and mainly used in steel manufacture.
China and Japan are more-or-less tied at 2-3.
“Wikipedia says Israel is trying to phase out all their coal plants.”
They are, for reasons such as this. They want to be 100% energy independent.
The OPEC embargoes loom large in their memories.
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