India’s monthly coal imports reached 16.3 MnT in Aug’15, the country’s lowest since Mar’14, when it had imported about 17.8 MnT in the month.
India, one of the prime players in dry fuel imports, has witnessed a rapid fall in coal import of about 15% in Aug’15. It is the sharpest and the first significant drop in more than a year since Mar’14. The country has imported about 16.3 MnT by the end of the month, which is 9.4% higher than last year imports of Aug’14.
Rise in domestic supply by CIL and sluggish demand owing to constant devaluation in INR, which has plunged to 66.3 against USD today, also touched lowest in Aug’15 since 2013, influencing Indian buyers to reduce their imports. In the present scenario, few of the country’s industry majors have reduced their imports and are fulfilling their need through domestic coal as CIL’s supply is sufficient to run their plants. The Indian coal ministry also expects that imports will slide in this fiscal.
As per SteelMint’s data analysis, out of the total in Aug’15, the country imported around 11.6 MnT of non-coking coal, which fell about 24% against 15.3 MnT imported in July’15; about 4.3 MnT coking coal, registering a gain of about 18% compared to last month, and import of coke stood at 0.32 MnT.
Apart from these grades, the country also imported about 1 MnT of Pet coke, which is its highest quantity imported since 2013.The quantity was majorly supplied by USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Mexico.
India’s Coal Imports in Since Mar’14
Major Discharging Ports & Importers in Aug’15
About 70% of coal was imported at key ports of the country. Among the major Indian ports, Mundra imported maximum quantity of about 2.9 MnT, followed by Paradip with 1.5 MnT and Krishnapatnam at 1.4 MnT.
Companies like Adani Power, JSW Steel, SAIL, Adani Enterprises and Tata Steel imported large quantities and played the most decisive role in coal imports; these imported about 2.1 MnT, 0.97 MnT, 1.3 MnT, 0.77 MnT and 0.63 MnT respectively in Aug15.
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