Thermal coal stocks at Indian ports rise 4% w-o-w amid inventory addition

Thermal coal stocks at various Indian ports rose slightly by 4% w-o-w to 14.05 million tonnes (mn t) in week 48 (21-25 Nov’21), CoalMint’s stock data reveals. The rise came against the backdrop of a slight increase in vessel arrivals in recent weeks.

Amid a sharp fall in coal prices over the last one month, a few importers were heard booking cargo while several end-users shifted to procuring thermal coal directly via imports as freight rates had eased significantly.

Several importers, however, awaited a further price reduction, thereby capping any significant rise in shipments.

As per CoalMint’s vessel line-up data, a total of 1.8 mn t of thermal coal vessels made their way to the country between 21-25 Nov’21, down 50% m-o-m.

In week 48, thermal coal stocks at Vizag and Navlakhi ports fell by 7% each w-o-w to 2.3 mn t and 1.3 mn t, respectively amid reduction in inventory of various importers.

Coal stocks at Gangavaram were largely unchanged at 1.4 mn t amid weakened portside trading activity and no major vessel arrival at the port.

Thermal coal stocks of Adani Enterprise were the highest at 0.8 mn t, CoalMint data showed.

*Quantity in mn t

Coal stocks at Kandla Port were at 2.1 mn t, up 7% w-o-w due to a 27% rise in inventory of Agarwal Coal at 0.28 mn t alongside 0.31 mn t of inventory of Friends Impex, 0.05 mn t of Ambuja Cement, and many others.

Thermal coal stocks at Paradip, however, fell by 12% at 0.32 mn t due to an 18% reduction in inventory of both ArcelorMittal (0.07 mn t) and Tata Steel (0.09 mn t).

Company-wise thermal coal stocks at ports

*Quantity in mn t

Adani Power has stocks at Hazira (0.93 mn t), Dahej (0.86 mn t), and Mundra (0.10 mn t) ports.

Tata Steel has the highest coal inventory at Haldia Port (0.26 mn t), followed by Dhamra (0.16 mn t) and Paradip (0.09 mn t).