GEORGE TOWN: About 110,000 tonnes of ball clay with an export value of almost RM10mil are choking up warehouses and quarries in Malaysia.

       They are stuck here because of a major spike in vessel charges due to the Ukraine-Russia war and a late Approved Permit (AP) approval.

       Ball clay is an essential raw product for making ceramics – sanitary ware, wall and floor tiles, cookware and tableware. Malaysia has been a major exporter of it since 2014.

       A total of 50,000 tonnes of ball clay are parked at Penang Port’s dry goods warehouse while another 60,000 tonnes are sitting at a 202ha clay mine in Trong, near Taiping in Perak.

       For visualisation, if a lorry can hold 10 tonnes of ball clay, it will then take 11,000 lorry trips to transport it.

       The current market price for ball clay is US$20 (RM87) a tonne, which gives the 110,000 tonnes stuck in Malaysia an export value of US$2.2mil (RM9.61mil).

       The miner, who applied for the AP in March last year to ship the 110,000 tonnes to Bangladesh, is now in a quandary as he only received the approval in February.

       When the AP arrived 11 months late, the Russian war in Ukraine caused the vessel charges to go from US$15 (RM66) a tonne to US$40 (RM175) now.

       The buyer couldn’t afford to pay for the increase in transport charge.

       “This is a missed opportunity. Vessel charges were so much lower a year ago before the Ukrainian-Russian war and we were in the best position to fill the void left by Ukraine, which is one of the world’s biggest exporters of ball clay,” a source lamented.

       Ukraine is grappling with its export shipments, hindered by the conflict, which makes it difficult to move containers at its ports.

       The source said the AP application was a tedious process.

       “There was an unverified report that there was rare earth in the clay,” he said.

       The source said Perak’s Mineral and Geoscience Department had to conduct an extensive investigation.

       “There was even a plan to bring in rare earth mining company Lynas Malaysia to extract any rare earth minerals first,” he said.

       Penang Port Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Sasedharan Vasudevan confirmed the presence of 50,000 tonnes of ball clay sitting at the port’s dry bulk warehouse in Butterworth wharf.

       “We have a flexible rate on the storage charges and until it is shipped out, the company can use the facility,” he said.

       When told about the company’s quandary, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan instructed it to write directly to him.

       “It will be good for them to explain the chronology of events in their letter for us to understand the issue,” he said.

       Takiyuddin said he was aware of the ball clay export boom for Malaysia and his ministry had approved many AP applications from quarries in Perak, especially in Kuala Kangsar.

       He promised to find out if the company was not able to ship out the clay because of the delay in the AP application.

       “Usually, our ministry will liaise with the Mineral and Geoscience Department on such applications.

       “I want more details on this particular case,” he said.

       According to Volza Grow Global, a portal which tracks global exports, until Oct 11 last year, Malaysia had 142 shipments of ball clay to Bangladesh, India and Indonesia.

       “Malaysia is the largest exporter of ball clay in South-East Asia,” it said.

       Index Box, a global market research and index company, states that from 2007 to 2016, the most notable growth rate of clay exports among the main exporting countries was attained by Malaysia, while the other global leaders experienced more modest paces of growth.

       The top three world’s largest exporter of ball clay are China, Ukraine and Germany.