India: Portside thermal coal stocks rise by 7% w-o-w

• Mundra, Jamnagar record sharp gains
• Adani Enterprise’s portside stocks rise

Thermal coal inventories at Indian ports rose by 7% to 14.22 million tonnes (mnt) in week 18 of CY’25 from 13.29 mnt in the previous week.

Key port inventory trends

Mundra recorded a sharp increase of 22.9% to 0.71 mnt from 0.58 mnt. Jamnagar’s inventory surged 71.5% to 0.42 mnt from 0.25 mnt, while Krishnapatnam rose 56% to 0.34 mnt from 0.22 mnt. Vizag climbed up by 17.1% to 0.91 mnt from 0.78 mnt, and Kandla increased 10.9% to 0.64 mnt from 0.58 mnt.

Paradip’s inventory rose by 7.1% to 1.78 mnt from 1.67 mnt. Mangalore increased 9.9% to 0.91 mnt from 0.83 mnt, while Haldia inched up by 3.8% to 0.44 mnt from 0.43 mnt.

Gangavaram was among the few ports to see a decline. Inventory fell 31.4% to 0.18 mnt from 0.26 mnt.

Company-wise trends

Adani Enterprise’s portside coal stocks increased 11.5% to 3.06 mnt from 2.74 mnt, while Agarwal Coal saw a 6.4% rise to 1.19 mnt from 1.12 mnt.

Market overview

South African thermal coal prices at Indian ports eased last week amid sluggish demand and limited trades. RB2 (5500 NAR) prices dropped INR 100/t w-o-w to INR 8,350/t exw-Gangavaram, while RB3 (4800 NAR) remained stable at INR 7,200/t. RB2 offers at Vizag ranged between INR 8,000-8,200/t, with a 16,000 t deal concluded at lower levels. Low sponge iron prices and higher domestic coal usage kept most buyers inactive. Export prices also softened, with RB2 at $75/t FOB. Prices may stay under pressure unless demand improves.