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Dept of Trade and Industry

Answer

Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much coal was used in the UK in the last year for which figures are available; how much was for metallurgical use; how much was used for power generation; how much metallurgical coal was imported and from where; what volume of coal for power generation was imported and from where; and how much was used for domestic and industrial heating. [195702] Mr. Mike O'Brien: [holding answer 4 November 2004]: In 2003, a total of 62.4 million tonnes of coal was used in the UK. The amount of coal used by the iron and steel industry in 2003 was 6.6 million tonnes, of which 5.7 million tonnes1 was transformed2 in the coke manufacturing process and 0.9 million tonnes was transformed2 in blast furnaces. The amount used by the non ferrous industry was 0.1 million tonnes as final use3. 53.1 million tonnes was used for power generation. 1 Included in this figure is the amount of coal used for coke manufacture by companies outside the iron and steel industry ie solid fuel manufacturers. 2 Coal is used in both transformation and final use. The transformation process changes coal into a secondary commodity which is better suited for specific uses than the original form. 3 Final use covers consumption of coal that is not transformed into a secondary commodity. The table shows the origins of coal imported into the UK. It is not possible to provide country of origin for coal used in the iron and steel and non ferrous metal industries or for power generation. However of total coal used in the iron and steel and non ferrous metal industries, approximately 95 per cent. has been imported and 22.1 million tonnes was imported for use by major power producers. Total imports of coal in 20031 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Total in tonnes European Union 2 368 Australia 5,665 Canada 839 Colombia 3,397 Indonesia 402 Norway 145 People's Republic of China 209 Poland 1,902 Republic of South Africa 12,193 Russia 5,089 United States of America 1,154 Vietnam 45 Other countries 481 Total all countries 31,891 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Country of origin basis 2 Includes extra-EU coal routed through the Netherlands Source: HM Customs and Excise within the Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2004. In 2003 total coal used in the domestic sector was 0.9 million tonnes and 0.7 million tonnes was used in the industrial sector. There are no official data collected on the proportions of coal used for heating, however recent studies by the Building Research Establishment show that around three quarters of domestic coal consumption is used for space heating. Previous studies have suggested that less than 5 per cent. of industrial use of coal is for space heating purposes.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

195702; 426 c1616-7W;426 c1619-20W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Coal Consumption Electricity generation Heating Imports Iron and steel Coal combustion

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk