Coking Coal Imports into India Gain 3.5% M-o-M in Sep’16

Coking Coal import into India during Sep’16 was up by around 3.5% over that in the preceding month.

In Sep’16, 3.84 MnT of Coking Coal was imported into the country that was, however, lower than the import in Sep’15, at 3.96 MnT, according to data compiled by CoalMint Research. In Aug’16, 3.71 MnT of the coal variant was imported into the country, CoalMint data also shows.

Conforming to the normal trend, imports from Australia constituted the largest share in the import basket during the month under consideration.

Source: CoalMint Research

During the month, the Paradip port had handled the highest volume of import traffic, followed by the Dhamra and Mormugao ports.

Source: CoalMint Research

Notably, the prevailing state-of-affairs of the steel industry is indicative of the imports to exhibit a declining trend in the near future. High prices of vital inputs have led the Indian steel makers to lower production rates. Moreover, liquidity crunch among the steel makers is also going to take a toll on their input purchases. Coking Coal imports into India, as a result, are expected to go lower in the coming months.

The major Coking Coal importers during Sep’16 are: Tata Steel, Bhushan Steel, SAIL, Bengal Energy, NINL, JSW Steel, Electrosteel, Jindal Steel and Power, Vedanta, Saurashtra Fuels and Rawmet Commodities, among others.