Coal

In the local market (inside South Africa) we can supply coal by road or rail, all grades and all sizes; small and large orders. Full payment is however required upfront.

Due to current market conditions in South Africa, very few attempts to export large volumes of coal from will be succesful. There are a variety of reasons for this. Mines operate on thin margins of surplus production. Rail freight is difficult to arrange. Access to the deep water port at Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) is restricted to those large companies that financed its development. And so on. For these reasons, few if any orders of 100,000 to 500,00 tons or more can be turned into business.

There are however some opportunities for smaller orders (less than 50,000 tons) to be exported on either a spot (once off) or contract (monthly for a period) sales bases.

Also due to market conditions, coal mines will not release their product on any other payment terms as either EXW or FOR (Free on Rail). The general rule is however full payment upfront (EXW). Please understand that (because of the above) we, as agents, cannot fund the supply coal on a FOB or CIF basis. We can neither fund the cost nor accept the associated risk. We would however be happy to assist the buyer and pay (from money paid to us in advance) the purchase of the product, all handling fees, transport fees, insurance and other costs up to any point the buyer wishes to nominate.

For export deals we require these steps to be followed:
1. Buyer makes inquiry & states tonnage and the qualities of the coal.
2. We (TAARC International) respond and confirm whether or not we can supply. At this point we may also be able to provide soft quote or guiding price (not confirmed price).
3. Buyer issues to TAARC the following:
3.1. Letter of Intent (official document on company letterhead),
3.2. Proof of Funds (to make purchases - official document from bankers),
3.3. Signed copy of our standard NCND (non-circumvention non-disclosure) agreement.
4. We (TAARC International) provisionally secure the volume of coal from the mine or mining house using the documents listed in clause 3 above and issue a firm (fixed) quote.
5. Buyer accepts, signs supply contract and makes (first) payment to our bankers.
6. We (TAARC International) sign the supply contract with the coal mine and makes all logistical arrangements for export. We supply first lab report.
7. We (TAARC International) makes first payment to mine, followed by payments to contractors to do handling, road transport, loading, rail transport, off load, storage, second lab report, loading on ship, etc. (according to agreement).
8. We use standard coal export agreement (SCoTA).

Coal agents. We supply the local market (inside South Africa) and can do small tonnages of export coal. Full payment in advance.