India’s total domestic sales of petroleum (pet) coke in Apr-Jul’21 showed a sizeable growth of 24.9% y-o-y due to increased domestic consumption by cement manufacturers.
Moreover, there was a growth in the country’s pet coke sales by 12.8% m-o-m in Jul’21.
Comparisons of pet coke sales – FY22 vs FY21
| FY | Jul | Apr-Jul |
| 2021-22 | 0.817 | 2.742 |
| 2020-21 | 0.724 | 2.195 |
| Change | 12.8% | 24.9% |
Source: Oil companies’ data | Figures in million tonnes (mn t)
Notably, the abovementioned domestic sales data includes all types of petroleum coke, including both fuel grade and anode grade (LS) as well as calcined petroleum coke.
Generally, fuel grade petroleum coke, produced domestically by various oil companies, has high sulphur content ranging from 6% -8%. Anode grade petroleum coke has lower sulphur content ranging from 0.6%-2.5%, which is produced at select refineries of IndianOil (IOCL) and Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL).
The above-mentioned domestic sales data is further analysed state-wise and year-wise (FY22 versus FY21) as follows:
| STATES | JUL’21 | JUL’20 | % GROWTH | APR-JUL’21 | APR-JUL’20 | % GROWTH |
| Rajasthan | 174.8 | 160.4 | 9.0 | 589.4 | 350.2 | 68.3 |
| Gujarat | 101.7 | 78.3 | 29.8 | 322.4 | 336.9 | -4.3 |
| Punjab | 109.5 | 64.0 | 71.0 | 274.2 | 119.4 | 129.7 |
| Karnataka | 69.7 | 66.6 | 4.7 | 254.8 | 239.8 | 6.2 |
| Chhattisgarh | 44.0 | 28.5 | 54.3 | 191.0 | 148.5 | 28.7 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 47.1 | 59.8 | -21.2 | 185.8 | 197.6 | -6.0 |
| Tamil Nadu | 65.6 | 45.9 | 43.0 | 179.4 | 82.4 | 117.7 |
| Odisha | 52.3 | 45.8 | 14.2 | 174.5 | 134.8 | 29.4 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 44.9 | 23.2 | 93.1 | 145.5 | 94.8 | 53.5 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 29.6 | 38.8 | -23.8 | 144.1 | 141.6 | 1.8 |
| Others | 77.5 | 112.6 | -31.1 | 280.9 | 349.5 | -19.6 |
| TOTAL | 816.7 | 723.9 | 12.8 | 2742.0 | 2195.4 | 24.9 |
Figures in kilotonne (kt)
It is noted that pet coke sales in Rajasthan continue to be the highest. It is mainly due to the concentration of cement factories owned by companies such as UltraTech, ACC Limited, Ambuja Cement, Shree Cement, JK Cement, JK Lakshmi Cement, Mangalam Cement, Wonder Cement etc, who are the major consumers of pet coke.
The state of Rajasthan has registered a growth of over 68% in domestic pet coke sales during Apr-Jul’21, while the maximum reduction was seen at Madhya Pradesh by about 6%.
Up until recently, Indian domestic demand for pet coke had been largely underpinned by resurgent demand from the cement industry due to increased infrastructural activities across the country.
But since around the middle of June this year, pet coke import prices increased substantially amid global supply concerns, while Indian demand collapsed due to competitively priced thermal coals and exorbitant freight rates.
At present, major Indian cement producers have been largely refraining themselves from making spot bookings of seaborne pet coke in consideration of unviable prices and supply uncertainty, particularly for US-origin material.
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