Despite prevalence of significantly high Coking Coal prices in the international markets, imports of the coal have remained at highs, albeit a marginal month-on-month dip.
In Aug’17, Coking Coal imports in India had dipped 4.65% in comparison with that in July’17, an analysis of the import data collected by CoalMint Research shows.
On a year-on-year comparison, the imports during the month were up by 21.56% over that in Aug’16.
Notably, there was no major decrease in the imports in spite of prevalence of high prices of the coal in foreign markets as steel plants in India were operating at high rates, forcing the steel makers to procure the coal not only for their daily consumption but also to stock the coal in view of the escalating prices.
A break-up of the countries of import during the month shows that the major portion of the imports came from Australia, although there was a decrease of 13.57% on a month-on-month basis.
The complete break-up is shown in the following table:
| ORIGIN | Aug’17 | July’17 | Change(%) |
| Australia | 3.52 | 4.07 | -13.57 |
| Canada | 0.18 | 0.24 | -27.04 |
| Mozambique | 0.38 | 0.09 | 320.37 |
| Russia | 0.12 | 0 | NA |
| USA | 0.22 | 0.23 | -5.06 |
| Netherlands | 0.00 | 0.04 | -100.00 |
| New Zealand | 0.00 | 0.07 | -100.00 |
| Others | 0.11 | 0 | NA |
| TOTAL | 4.52 | 4.74 | -4.64 |
Source: CoalMint Research
Among the ports in the country, the Paradip port had handled the highest volume of import traffic; followed by the Mormugao and Dhamra ports.
Source: CoalMint Research
In the succeeding month, the imports are likely to decline as the prices in Australia have risen to significant heights. Many Indian buyers were heard to have considered stopping the imports in view of the high price levels.
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