Indian coal-based plants have registered higher coal imports in April 2022 as they returned to the global market to mitigate the supply-demand gap in the country. In this period, country’s major power producer NTPC emerged as the highest coal importer.
Coal imports by the plants increased 55% m-o-m to 4.4 million tonnes (mnt) in April 2022, thereby recording the highest monthly import volumes since October 2020. The volume saw a modest rise on the year against 4.28 mnt in April 2021.
The power plants have shown lesser interest for imported coal due to the spurt in seaborne coal prices. However, with domestic supplies falling short, the requirement of imports was lifted at a time power demand was on record-levels.
NTPC leads the line
The growth in imports was more pronounced in case of plants that are designed to run on domestic coal, boosted by higher sourcing from central-run plants majorly owned by NTPC.
The company recorded imports of 1.27 mnt in April 2022 against the spate of tenders floated for its various plant locations. Imports saw a substantial growth on the year against 0.15 mnt in April 2021.
Break-up of Imports
Quantity in mnt | Source: Power Ministry
Under this category, the response from state-run plants was subdued as they remained on the side-lines. The last time these plants recorded imports was May 2021.
Total imports by domestic-run plants for blending purpose recorded an exponential growth of 125% m-o-m to 2.17 mnt in April 2022. Imports were also 154% higher y-o-y from 0.85 mnt in April 2021.
Sluggish pace from imported coal-based plants
Imports by plants, especially designed to run on imported coal, grew 19% m-o-m to 2.23 mnt in April, but was down 35% compared to the year-ago period.
Gujarat’s state-run Sikka power plant imported 0.04 mnt after a gap of 7 months upon resuming operation. However, the overall sourcing under this category of plants was affected by the prolonged closure of some of the remaining units.
Adani Power and Tata Power recorded a decline in coal sourcing in April. It is important to note that both of these operate power plants at Mundra having a combined capacity of 8,620 mega-watts (MW), which accounts for almost half of the total capacity of the import-based plants.
The recent efforts made by the government suggest that it is leaving no stone unturned to cater the surplus power demand. To achieve this, the government has also placed strict measures for plants to initiate coal imports, which is likely keep the volume higher in the short-term.
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