Wednesday, April 06,
Indian thermal coal imports shoot up on rising demand.*India being the world’s fastest growing major economy, has massive coal reserves, but the country’s energy consumption is growing so rapidly that Indian imports of power-station coal rose by 33% to reach 65.7 million metric tons in the year ending March 2011 from 49.4 million a year earlier. In spite of both India’s import and domestic coal production, the country still experienced shortages in 2010.
Indonesia shipped 43 million MT while South Africa supplied 19 million MT, the coal newsletter said. Demand for the fuel from power plants may rise to 750 million tons in 2017 from an estimated 500 million this year, it said, citing data from India’s Planning Commission.
Indian imports of thermal coal nearly doubled last year, surging from 30 million tons in 2008 to a little less than 60 million tons in 2009. India has plans to double electricity generation capacity by 2012, which could see the country importing in excess of 200 million tons of coal.
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