Indian Coal Imports Fall by 2.1 MnT in June

Indian coal imports have registered a downfall of about 10% in the month of June; increased domestic availability seems favoring the reduction.

India, a significant player in global dry fuel imports, has imported about 19.1 MnT coal in the month of June’15 with a marginal decline of 10% compared to last month. As per SteelMint’s data analysis, out of the total, the country imported around 14.5 MnT of non-coking coal in June’15, which is a declined of 13.4% against 16.7 MnT non-coking coal imported in May’15; about 4.3 MnT coking, and 0.3 MnT coke and anthracite was imported by the end of the month.

Apart from these grades, the country also imported about 0.6 MnT of Pet coke which has shown a marginal growth compared to its last month’s import, noted at 0.5 MnT. The quantity was majorly supplied by USA and Saudi Arabia.

On one hand, persistently falling global coal prices could be a positive note for Indian buyers to purchase more coal from global market, but additional domestic supply along with ongoing monsoon, compelled importers to prefer domestic coal rather than imported.

At the end of first quarter of FY16, CIL, a major supplier of domestic coal, achieved 99% of its coal production target for the period and produced about 121.3 MnT of coal. The company also registered a yearly growth of 12% in Q1 FY16 compared to same period of last fiscal.

Major Discharging Ports and Importers in June’15

About 70% of coal was imported at key ports of the country. Among the major Indian ports, Mundra imported maximum quantity of about 3.5 MnT, followed by Krishnapatnam with 1.9 MnT and Paradip at 1.7 MnT.

Companies like Adani, JSW Steel, SAIL, Coastal Guajrat Power, Tata Steel and NTPC imported large quantities and played the most decisive role in coal imports; these companies imported about 4 MnT, 1.4 MnT, 1 MnT, 0.8 MnT, 0.7 and 0.6MnT respectively in June’15.

Major Coal Importers

Quantity in MnT
Source: SteelMint