The blueprint of a recent plan that is making rounds among the top brass of the Indian coal behemoth, Coal India Limited (CIL), will take a toll on Indonesian coal exports, if the plan is eventually executed.
CIL is working on a plan to export coal to power companies in the neighboring country, Bangladesh. It also learnt that CIL is already in talks with Bangladeshi power producers for striking deals. CIL will be exporting to that country, if the ongoing talks translate into deals.
The export plan is intended to step-up its slowing coal sales as purchases have gone slow due to Indian power companies having adequate stocks of the fuel. Moreover, CIL is having around 55 MnT of pithead stock, which will be sold off, if the plan materializes.
CIL authorities believe that its exports will find market in that country as quality of its coal is high enough to compete with Indonesian coal, and also will be cheaper than Indonesian coal.
Bangladesh is predominately dependent on Indonesian coal to cater to the country’s demand. The total coal demand in that country is at around 4.5 MnT pa, out of which around 3 MnT pa is imported from Indonesia, and the rest from India.
Coal imports into Bangladesh from Indonesia in FY16
| Month in FY16 | Coking Coal | Non Coking Coal | Other Coal (whether or not pulverised but not agglomerated) |
| Apr’15 | 0.03 | 0.11 | 0.29 |
| May’15 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.05 |
| Jun’15 | 0.04 | 0.00 | – |
| Jul’15 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.08 |
| Aug’15 | 0.04 | 0.11 | 0.21 |
| Sep’15 | 0.04 | 0.08 | 0.26 |
| Oct’15 | 0.08 | 0.09 | 0.11 |
| Nov’15 | 0.05 | 0.11 | 0.15 |
| Dec’15 | 0.09 | 0.00 | 0.20 |
| Jan’16 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.13 |
| Feb’16 | 0.09 | 0.07 | 0.16 |
| Mar’16 | 0.09 | 0.03 | 0.13 |
| Total | 0.59 | 0.63 | 1.75 |
Source: Indonesian Customs
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