Indian Coal Import Down by 9% in Nov’16 over Higher Prices

India’s total monthly coal imports seen a downfall of 9% to 16.3 MnT in Nov’16. Sharp hike in global coal prices turn away Indian consumers.

India, the 2nd largest dry fuel importer across the globe, has mark the 2nd lowest coal imports of the year in Nov’16. The imports had attained with a downfall of 9% in Nov’16 compared with last month.

In Nov’16, the country has imported about 16.3 MnT coal (pet coke included) with a notable fall of 1.6 MnT compared to Oct’16. In addition, total yearly coal imports also declined by 9% from 17.9 MnT in Nov’15.

Rise in global coal prices resulted into slow trade in India since couple of months. Because of sharp growth in international coal market which have hit 2-3 years high in Oct’16, have limited buyers to opt imported material during the month.

As per SteelMint’s data analysis, out of the total imports, the country imported 10.9 MnT non-coking coal, 3.6 MnT coking coal and about 0.5 MnT coke & anthracite in Nov’16. While, 1.3 MnT Pet coke was majorly supplied by USA and Saudi Arabia.

Source: SteelMint
Quantity in MnT

Major exporting countries to India in Nov’16
Indonesia, the biggest conventional source of the country, supplied about 7 MnT of coal, registered a downfall of 8% against Oct’16. Moreover, India purchases most of its coal from countries such as Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, USA, Russia and Canada in Nov’16.

Major discharging ports and importers in Nov’16
Mundra, India’s biggest Port in dry fuel handling, received the highest volume of 2.5 MnT with a growth of 3% in Nov’16. Other ports of the country namely Krishnapatnam, Kandla and Hazira received 1.6 MnT, 1.3 MnT and 1.2 MnT coal respectively.

Source: SteelMint
Quantity in MnT

Indian companies like Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, JSW Steel, SAIL, Tata Steel and Agarwal Coal imported large quantities of about 1.7 MnT, 1.6 MnT, 1.4 MnT, 0.9 MnT, 0.8 MnT and 0.7 MnT respectively in Nov’16.