Indian Coal Imports Jump by 20% in Oct’15

India’s monthly coal imports have risen by 20% in Oct’15 against Sept’15. The previous month had registered the lowest level since Mar’14.

The world’s 3rd largest coal importer, India has witnessed a rapid growth in Oct’15 coal imports. It is the sharpest hike after significant drop in more than a year since Mar’14.
The country has imported about 18 MnT at the month end. Which is about 1.6% lower than import of Oct’14.

On one hand, rise in domestic supply by CIL has provided a big relief to industry majors. On the other, increased low quality domestic coal has surged the requirement of high GCV imported material for blending.

Poor quality domestic coal availability seems a considerable reason for sudden hike after registered a lowest import in last month.

Although, Indian ministry had increased quantity in auction in this fiscal and allocate captive blocks to private users, allocated blocks are still not operating owing to rise in stamp duty, which driven end users towards imports.

As per SteelMint’s data analysis, India’s non-coking coal imports up by 20% to about 13.1 MnT from 10.9 MnT in Sept’15. The nation’s coking coal imports raised by 21% M-o-M to about 4.7 MnT. Besides, about 0.22 MnT Met coke was also imported by the country.

Country-wise coal import in Oct’15

Source: SteelMint
Quantity in 000′ MnT

Apart from these grades, the country also imported about 0.85 MnT of Pet coke from different destinations.

Major discharging ports and importers in Oct’15

The key Indian ports imports about 70% of coal every month. Among the major Indian ports, Mundra imported maximum quantity of about 2.8 MnT, followed by Krishnapatnam with 2.3 MnT and Paradip with 1.4 MnT.

Companies like Adani Power (2.2 MnT), JSW Steel(1.5 MnT), Adani Enterprises (1.3 MnT), SAIL (1.1 MnT), Coastal Gujarat Power (0.64 MnT), Bhushan Steel (0.49 MnT), Tata Steel(0.52 MnT) and RINL (0.44 MnT) have imported large quantities and played the most decisive role in coal imports.