India Coking Coal Imports Decline in Apr’19 – Major Fall in Imports from USA

India’s metallurgical coal imports witnessed a marginal decline in the last month, contrary to the highest ever volumes of steam coal imports—primarily due to the firm prices and not so upbeat outlook for the Indian steel sector.

Indian coking coal imports have decreased by 9.72% on a month-to-month basis in April to 4.38 million tonnes (MnT), as compared to 4.85 MnT in March, as per the latest vessel lineup data compiled by CoalMint Research.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the country’s coking coal import volumes have increased by 3.96% in Apr’19, against 4.21 MnT of imports recorded in Apr’18.

Source: Vessel Line-up Data, CoalMint Research | Quantity in MnT

Country Wise India Coking Coal Import in Apr’19:

A country-wise break-up of the monthly import data reveals that the major proportion of the Indian coking coal import shipments continued to be originated from Australia, constituting the highest share of around 75%.

Indian met coal imports from Australia rose marginally by 2.5% M-o-M to 3.30 MnT in Apr’19, against 3.22 MnT in Mar’19.

Following Australia, the imports from Canada accounted for 9% share.

India’s coking coal imports from Canada rose by 23.5% M-o-M to 0.38 MnT in Apr’19 against 0.31 MnT in Mar’19.

Notably, Indian coking coal imports from USA fell by 62.8% M-o-M to 0.19 MnT in Apr’19, against 0.51 MnT in Mar’19.

Similarly, imports from Russia, Indonesia and Mozambique fell by 34%, 37% and 57% respectively.

Source: CoalMint Research | Quantity in MnT

The following table presents a detailed breakup of the countries of origin during the month under review.

Source: CoalMint Research | Quantity in MT