Coal imports by Indian power utilities have increased 15% on the month to attain a 5-month high total during Oct’19, data provided by power ministry showed. Intake by power plants was marked 6.021 MnT in Oct’19 as against 5.227 MnT in Sep’19.
The rise in monthly imports was however overshadowed by the first year-on-year decline noted for FY20, as appetite for imports was lowered by an uptick in domestic coal receipt and slight fall in coal burning at the power stations.
Apparenly, power plant’s import in Oct’19 had fell 9% Y-o-Y from 6.606 MnT noted in Oct’18, on the back of 13% rise in monthly domestic coal receipt to 42.24 MnT, while average coal consumption had fell 4% M-o-M to 1.509 MnT/day during the month.
A break-up of imports indicate that coal intake by plants for the purpose of blending with domestic coal, had increased 42% M-o-M to 2.138 MnT in Oct’19. Central-run power stations led by NTPC, had recorded an exponential growth of 1524% M-o-M, while fetching 0.294 MnT coal imports during the month.
Whereas, plants designed to run specifically on imported coal had taken 3.883 MnT coal imports in Oct’19, which was marked 4% higher on the month from 3.721 MnT in Sep’19.
| Sector | Plants based on Domestic Coal | Plant Based on Imported Coal | Total Imports | ||||||
| Oct’19 | Sep’19 | % Change | Oct’19 | Sep’19 | % Change | Oct’19 | Sep’19 | % Change | |
| Central | 0.294 | 0.018 | 1524% | – | – | – | 0.2939 | 0.018 | 1524% |
| State | 0.541 | 0.464 | 17% | 0.133 | 0.032 | 316% | 0.674 | 0.496 | 36% |
| Private | 1.303 | 1.024 | 27% | 3.751 | 3.689 | 2% | 5.053 | 4.713 | 7% |
| Total | 2.138 | 1.506 | 42% | 3.883 | 3.721 | 4% | 6.021 | 5.227 | 15% |
Source: Power Ministry
Quantity in MnT
Adani power’s Mundra plant was highest coal receiver during the month, with imports of 1.504 MnT followed by Tata Power’s Coastal Gujarat plant who had procured 1.036 MnT coal. Among the state power generators, TANGEDCO was the major coal importer in Oct’19.
An improved coal sourcing both domestically as well as imported has overturned the declining trend seen in the power plants’ closing coal stock, which has increased 7% M-o-M to 23.09 MnT at the end of Oct’19. Domestic coal supplies to the power stations is expected to further rise during winter as the weather turns fair at almost all mines.
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