Indian Petcoke Imports in Jun’17 Slip to 4-Month Low

Signaling the imminence of further fall in imports, Petcoke imports in India had fallen by 18.48% in Jun’17 from the imports in May’17, an analysis by CoalMint Research on import data shows.

In Jun’17, 0.75 MnT of Petcoke was imported in India and that was lower than the imports of 0.92 MnT in the previous month.

Source: CoalMint Research

On a year-on-year comparison, the imports during Jun’17 sank by 44.44% over that in the same month of the previous year. In Jun’16, 1.35 MnT of Petcoke was imported in India.

The imports have declined because of the shrinkage in demand due to the ban called by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). Readers will recall that the NGT had, in May’17, banned all Petcoke units, using the fuel without the requisite permission, from operating on account of the atmospheric pollution emanated by burning Petcoke. At the same time, the NGT had asked all the state governments to frame their respective Petcoke usage policies within a two-month period.

A break-up of the import countries during the month under review shows that the imports from USA was higher; while that from Saudi Arabia was lower. The complete table is shown below:

Source: CoalMint Research

Among the various ports in India, the Kandla port had handled the highest volume of import traffic during the month, followed by the Karaikal and Krishnapatnam ports.

Source: CoalMint Research

The importers during the month were: Ultratech Cement, JK Lakshmi Cement, Dalmia Cement, Zuari Cement, Ambuja Cement, Aditya Birla, Chettinad Cement, Shri Cement and Manikgarh cement.

In a tentative forecast, the imports are expected to go further down due to decrease in consumption on account of the NGT directive. Also, imports from Saudi Arabia will decrease significantly as Petcoke of the region contains higher concentration of Sulphur.