India’s thermal coal imports have decreased by 11.61% on a month-to-month basis to 17.34 million tonnes (MnT) in May, as compared to 19.62 MnT in April, as per the latest vessel lineup data compiled by CoalMint Research.
Until recently, however, coal shortage at power plants was driving up the country’s thermal coal imports as domestic supply consistently lagged behind demand, despite the government’s repeated assurances of self-sufficiency in production.
India imported 19.62 million tonnes of non-coking coal in April this year, marking an astounding growth of almost 45%, against 13.54 MT in the same month last year.
Furthermore, on a year-to-date basis, Indian non-coking coal imports have surged by nearly 20% totaling over 83 MnT during the first five months of this year, against the cumulative total of 69.2 MnT imported in the corresponding period last year.
Source: Vessel Line-up Data, CoalMint Research | Quantity in MnT
Country Wise India Non-Coking Coal Import in May’19:
A country wise breakup of the monthly import data reveals that the major proportion of India’s non-coking coal shipments continued to be originated from Indonesia, constituting the highest share of about 59%.
Nevertheless, Indonesian non-coking coal exports to India fell by roughly 18.8% M-o-M to 10.24 MnT in May’19 against 12.60 MnT in Apr’19.
More importantly, Indian thermal coal imports from USA fell by 31.8% to 0.73 MnT in May’19, against 1.07 MnT in Apr’19.
In contrast, South African non-coking coal supplies to India rose by 4.2% M-o-M to 4.43 MnT in May’19 from 4.25 MnT in Apr’19.
India’s non-coking coal imports from Australia rose by 38.1% M-o-M to 0.77 MnT in May’19 compared with 0.56 MnT in Apr’19.
Imports from Mozambique surged by a whopping 87.2% M-o-M to 0.53 MnT in May’19, against 0.29 MnT in Apr’19; while imports from Russia rose by 5.6%.
Source: CoalMint Research | Quantity in MnT
The following table presents a detailed breakup of the countries of origin during the month under review.
| Origin | May’19 | Apr’19 | Change |
| Indonesia | 10,236,429 | 12,601,665 | -18.77% |
| South Africa | 4,433,950 | 4,254,342 | 4.22% |
| Australia | 771,355 | 558,443 | 38.13% |
| USA | 727,368 | 1,067,035 | -31.83% |
| Mozambique | 534,966 | 285,813 | 87.17% |
| Russia | 425,326 | 402,600 | 5.64% |
| Ukraine | 80,753 | ||
| Malaysia | 75,600 | 156,330 | -51.64% |
| Mexico | 53,890 | 53,575 | 0.59% |
| Canada | 51,380 | ||
| Others | 186,730 | ||
| TOTAL | 17,339,637 | 19,617,913 | -11.61% |
Source: CoalMint Research | Quantity in MT
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