India: Portside thermal coal stocks fall 3.6% w-o-w to 13.14 mnt

• West coast builds at Mundra, Hazira
• East sees mixed drawdown

Portside thermal coal inventories across India declined 3.6% w-o-w to 13.14 mnt in the week ended 27 February from 13.63 mnt in the previous week, extending last week’s correction after the recent peak. Owing to sharp hike in import offers and ambiguous position of RKAP from Indonesia led the buyers on hold for any bookings.

East coast: Sharp fall at Krishnapatnam, Gangavaram

On the east coast, Dhamra rose 6.5% to 1.26 mnt from 1.18 mnt, while Vizag edged up 1.2% to 0.87 mnt. Paradip slipped marginally by 1.2% to 1.22 mnt. However, Krishnapatnam fell sharply by 44.0% to 0.19 mnt, and Gangavaram dropped 57.8% to 0.09 mnt. Gopalpur rose to 0.09 mnt from 0.02 mnt.

West coast: Mundra gains, Kandla and Mangalore correct

Mundra increased 9.6% to 1.45 mnt and Hazira rose 1.9% to 1.90 mnt. Tuticorin gained 7.7% to 1.04 mnt. In contrast, Kandla declined 20.7% to 0.62 mnt, Mangalore fell 39.7% to 0.35 mnt, and Navlakhi also fall by 14.2% to 0.85 mnt. Jamnagar rose sharply to 0.29 mnt from 0.15 mnt.

Buyer-wise stock position

Adani Enterprise inventories declined 2.8% w-o-w to 3.36 mnt from 3.46 mnt. Agarwal Coal stocks fell 4.1% to 1.03 mnt from 1.07 mnt, indicating continued selective evacuation.

The overall decline reflected faster evacuation at select east coast ports, particularly Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram, along with corrections at Kandla and Mangalore. While Mundra and Dhamra saw fresh build-up, stock movement remained uneven across regions.

Outlook

Escalating geopolitical tensions and the Middle East conflict may impact freight costs, vessel routing and insurance premiums, potentially delaying fresh cargo arrivals and adding uncertainty to near-term stock replenishment.