VietNamNet Bridge - Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the biggest power generator, says it does not want to buy coal from Vinacomin, the country's largest coal miner, for its power plants. 

EVN is seeking the government’s permission not to buy 2 million tons from Vinacomin. 

Vinacomin’s managers said if EVN doesn’t use Vinacomin’s coal, the mining company will suffer heavily. 

There are still 10.53 million tons of coal in stock. If the coal is not sold, the group will have to lay off 4,000 workers.

Pham Pho, former rector of the Sai Gon Economics & Polytechnic Junior College, believes that EVN doesn’t want Vinacomin’s coal because the coal has low carbon content. It would be better for it to import coal because imports have lower prices and are more suited to technologies used by domestic thermal power plants.

There are still 10.53 million tons of coal in stock. If the coal is not sold, the group will have to lay off 4,000 workers.

Pho said that Vinacomin has exploited coal in large quantities. “If Vinacomin continues providing low-quality products, it will not be able to sell coal,” he said.

Tran Dinh Long, former deputy chair of the Vietnam Power Association, said EVN has the right to decide from whom it will buy coal. 

“It is understandable that EVN wants to buy products at reasonable prices which fit their power generation technology,” he said.

Vinacomin needs to think about when domestic enterprises don’t want to buy its coal and want to use imports instead.

“If Vinacomin is sure that its coal has high quality and reasonable prices, but EVN still refuses to buy its coal, it can bring the case to the government. The government will come forward and judge if EVN’s refusal is reasonable,” he said.

However, the big problem here is that thousands of workers may lose jobs if Vinacomin loses one big client – EVN.

According to Pho, the government needs to intervene in this case to encourage the consumption of Vietnamese products to create jobs and develop domestic businesses.

“If the coal quality is low, Vinacomin has to improve the quality by enriching coal and improving the carbon content,” he said.

“The government should ask EVN to set up requirements on coal. If Vinacomin can satisfy the requirements, EVN will have to buy Vinacomin’s coal for the sake of Vietnamese benefits,” he said, adding that EVN is a large national corporation and it has to act for the nation’s benefits.

Long said that if Vinacomin’s products remain uncompetitive because of bad management and outdated technology, the government needs to force it to fix the problems or urge bankruptcy.

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