Indian power plants’ coal import has fallen 14% Y-o-Y during the first quarter of FY19 (Apr’18-Jun’18). According to the data provided by the Power ministry, coal import by the power plants was recorded at 13.083 MnT during Q1 FY19. The plants had imported 15.187 MnT coal during the similar time frame in FY18.
Much to the dismay of the Indian government, power plants which are designed to run on domestic coal have witnessed their imports rising during the period, while the imports by plants designed on imported coal have decreased on the Y-o-Y basis in Q1 FY19.
Indian government had underlined the fact that despite having abundance of coal availability in the country, the import of coal would be necessitated by the power plants which are designed to run on imported coal. However, during Q1 FY19, plants that run on imported coal have received 8.014 MnT coal, which was 26% lower on the year compared with 10.782 MnT in Q1 FY18.
On the other hand, imports by plants that run on domestic coal have increased 15% Y-o-Y to 5.069 MnT in Q1 FY19 compared with 4.405 MnT in Q1 FY18. The increase in imports could be attributed on part of CIL, which has struggled to elevate its coal supply to the power sector in accordance with the demand.
Managing Director of CIL, Mr. Anil Kumar Jha has enlightened the issue of coal availability arising due to the rail logistics constrains in his recent media briefing. However, he remains optimistic that a quantum jump in coal evacuation logistics would be seen in two years.
A plant-wise break of imports indicates that import by the central-run NTPC plant had fallen 96% Y-o-Y to 0.034 MnT in Q1 FY19.
State-run and private plants designed on domestic coal had imported 2.327 MnT and 2.708 MnT during Q1 FY18 respectively, noting increase of 94% and 16% in the process. While imports of State-run and private plants designed on imported coal was down in Q1 FY19.
| Sector | Plants based on Domestic Coal | Plant Based on Imported Coal | ||||
| Q1 FY19 | Q1 FY18 | % Change | Q1 FY19 | Q1 FY18 | % Change | |
| Central | 0.034 | 0.875 | -96% | – | – | – |
| State | 2.327 | 1.198 | 94% | 0.385 | 0.425 | -10% |
| Private | 2.708 | 2.332 | 16% | 7.629 | 10.357 | -26% |
| Total | 5.069 | 4.405 | 15% | 8.013 | 10.782 | -26% |
Source: Power Ministry
Quantity in MnT
During the month of Jun’18, total coal imports by the plants had fell 10% M-o-M to 4.439 MnT, which was also 12% lower on the year compared with 5.058 MnT in Jun’17.
Combined coal stock at the power plants had slightly improved on the month, recorded at 20 MnT in Jun’18, but was still 10% lower on the year from 22.261 MnT in Jun’17.
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