India’s coking coal import shipments have decreased by 9% month-on-month to 4.68 mn t in Nov’20, compared with 5.15 mn t in Oct’20.
Contrarily, however, the country’s PCI import shipments have increased by almost 40% m-o-m to 1.19 mn t in Nov’20, compared with 0.85 mn t in Oct’20.
Major coking coal exporters to India in Nov’20
Key Highlights
- Nearly three-fourths of the coking coal import shipments into India continued to be originated from Australia.
- India’s coking coal imports from Australia registered a 13% month-on-month reduction in the last month of November.
- Inbound shipments of coking coal from Canada, US and Indonesia grew by considerable volumes contrasted with the previous month of October.
The following table presents a detailed country-wise break-up of the monthly import data.
| Origin | Nov’20 | Oct’20 | M-o-M Change | Nov’19 | Y-o-Y Change |
| Australia | 3.532802 | 4.035811 | -12.5% | 3.107709 | 13.7% |
| Canada | 0.336836 | 0.275654 | 22.2% | 0.395169 | -14.8% |
| USA | 0.331689 | 0.197569 | 67.9% | 0.155200 | 113.7% |
| Indonesia | 0.225546 | 0.195262 | 15.5% | 0.078000 | 189.2% |
| Mozambique | 0.181942 | 0.199448 | -8.8% | 0.214304 | -15.1% |
| Russia | 0.073900 | 0.247395 | -70.1% | 0.294960 | -74.9% |
| TOTAL | 4.682715 | 5.151139 | -9.1% | 4.245342 | 10.3% |
Quantity in mn t
Current Market Scenario & Near-term Outlook—
- The Indian market has been lately observing a considerable increase in enquiries for seaborne coking coal; however, spot transactions were relatively limited other than existing long-term contracts.
- Indian buyers are mostly refraining from immediate procurement of seaborne coking coal cargoes in hopes that offers could decline further.
- Indian market sentiment was relatively steady last month while price expectations for seaborne coking coal were lifted higher amid the strength seen in domestic coking coal prices of all grades.
- Full-scale demand revival for spot purchases of seaborne coking coal by Indian steel mills will likely take a while and is anticipated to start showing signs of robust growth in late January next year at the earliest.
- Traders anticipate that imported coking coal demand would pick up soon on restocking needs, as the country’s steel plants have been operating at optimum blast furnace capacity levels in recent months.
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By Aditya Sinha
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