India: Portside thermal coal stocks rise 5% w-o-w

• Inventories rise in Mundra, Dhamra 
• Portside coal prices under pressure

Thermal coal inventories at Indian ports rose by 5.2% to 14.95 million tonnes (mnt) in week 19 of CY’25, up from 14.22 mnt the previous week.

Key port inventory trends

Dhamra recorded the highest rise of 39.3% to 0.88 mnt, followed by Tuna where inventory more than doubled to 0.28 mnt. In Mundra, stocks increased by 25.6% to 0.89 mnt, and in Kandla they rose 16.7% to 0.75 mnt. Mangalore and Krishnapatnam ports saw inventory rising by over 11% each to 1.02 mnt and 0.38 mnt, respectively. Gangavaram, Haldia and Magdalla also saw moderate gains.

Tuticorin reported the highest drop of 16.9%, while in Kakinada and Dahej inventory fell by 13.3% and 7.6%, respectively. Vizag’s inventory inched down to 0.90 mnt.

Company-wise trends

Stocks held by Adani Enterprises rose slightly by 2.1% to 3.12 mnt. Agarwal Coal’s holdings grew by 8.7% to 1.30 mnt.

Market overview

South African coal prices continued to soften this week as demand remained sluggish and portside stocks remained high. RB2 prices dropped by INR 100/t w-o-w to INR 8,250/t exw-Gangavaram, while RB3 held steady at INR 7,200/t. A deal for RB2 was done at INR 8,150/t at Ennore.

Non-coking coal imports from South Africa decreased by 8% m-o-m to 3.24 mnt in April. Sponge iron prices also fell, reflecting weak market sentiment. Export offers for RB2 and RB3 decreased further to $73.5/t and $61/t FOB, respectively. The outlook remains soft with limited spot trades and low demand.

However,  Indonesian coal prices remained stable but low-CV cargoes saw a drop last week. At Kandla, 5000 GAR was heard at INR 7,800/t while 4200 GAR prices were at INR 6,200/t and INR 6,100/t at Vizag. Hiwever, 3400 GAR prices dropped INR 200/t to INR 4,600/t at Navlakhi due to ample supplies.