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Meeting Held to Ensure Stable Wood Coal Supply

  • Date

    2026.03.11.

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    143

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Meeting Held to Ensure Stable Wood Coal Supply
- Discussion meeting held on Wednesday, March 4 for the wood coal import and shipping industries -


  The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) announced that it held a discussion meeting on Wednesday, March 4 with the relevant agencies including the Korea Charcoal Association and Korea Shipping Association to ensure stable supply of wood coals, which are mainly imported by sea.

  Charcoal is classified by the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code as one of the dangerous goods due to its self-heating properties. The requirements for maritime transportation on international vessels have been strengthened since January 1, 2026*.

    * ① Using UN-approved containers, ② Cooling the charcoal for at least 14 days before packaging and packaging it at 40℃ or lower, ③ Isolating the heat source and maintaining a cool condition, etc.

  The discussion meeting was held to hear the industry's concerns about strengthening maritime transport requirements for charcoal and to support a stable charcoal transport network through cooperation between the import and shipping industries.

    * Charcoal used in Korea is mainly imported by ship from Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Indonesia, and 96% (115,000 tons) of the total charcoal distributed in Korea in 2024 (approximately 120,000 tons) was imported.

  MOF shared the latest trends in charcoal imports via maritime transport with the industry and listened to concerns about difficulties arising from strengthened transport regulations during container loading, storage, and transportation. They also agreed to continue cooperation to maintain a stable charcoal import supply chain.

  “We will support the stable maritime transportation of charcoal based on the opinions collected from the industry at this meeting. We will continue cooperating with the relevant ministries to prevent damage to domestic small business owners and restaurant industry due to disruptions in charcoal supply,” said Nam Chang-seop, Director of Maritime Industry Technology Division at MOF.
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