Indian thermal coal imports from USA surged by 182% to 10.09 million metric tons (MMT) in the first nine months of 2018, against 3.64 MMT in the corresponding period of 2017, as per the latest data maintained by American Fuels & Natural Resources FZCO (ANR), a Dubai-based commodity marketing and trading company that deals in mainly US origin coal.
Notably, Indian imports have been on an upward trend in recent months despite the rising prices. The country’s higher volume of imports is mainly due to CIL’s incapability to cater to the growing demand from power stations.
Even though India has the world’s fifth largest coal reserves and is also the world’s third largest producer and importer of coal, the gap between domestic supply and demand is growing at a phenomenal rate, which is being filled by imported coal.
| 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | ||||||||||||
| NAPP | Total | NAPP | ILB | Total | NAPP | ILB | PRB | Total | ||||||
| WCI | ECI | WCI | ECI | WCI | ECI | WCI | ECI | WCI | ECI | |||||
| Jan | 206,258 | 206,258 | 124,529 | 124,529 | 723,338 | 204,887 | 160,019 | 1,088,244 | ||||||
| Feb | 103,793 | 73,035 | 176,828 | 431,280 | 431,280 | 253,047 | 668,380 | 144,247 | 1,065,674 | |||||
| Mar | 108,920 | 108,920 | 235,967 | 235,967 | 486,939 | 532,511 | 69,975 | 1,089,425 | ||||||
| Apr | 418,829 | 77,511 | 496,340 | 554,498 | 554,498 | 866,929 | 249,437 | 119,561 | 1,235,927 | |||||
| May | 1,053,870 | 76,963 | 1,130,833 | 794,122 | 175,944 | 49,000 | 1,019,066 | 631,712 | 380,102 | 145,450 | 142,230 | 1,299,494 | ||
| Jun | 227,340 | 227,340 | 129,575 | 82,057 | 211,632 | 500,842 | 467,647 | 72,395 | 92,605 | 162,224 | 1,295,713 | |||
| Jul | 237,279 | 237,279 | 77,001 | 197,500 | 274,501 | 253,031 | 645,262 | 560,021 | 55,010 | – | 1,513,324 | |||
| Aug | 234,483 | 234,483 | 124,085 | 199,266 | 323,351 | 375,050 | 122,875 | 215,499 | 713,424 | |||||
| Sep | – | – | 100,900 | 324,275 | 44,000 | 469,175 | 464,327 | 119,998 | 199,591 | 783,916 | ||||
| Oct | – | – | 591,163 | 242,000 | 833,163 | – | ||||||||
| Nov | 126,867 | 126,867 | 496,660 | 246,525 | 61,911 | 805,096 | – | |||||||
| Dec | 353,801 | 162,817 | 516,618 | 695,661 | 240,136 | 82,469 | 1,018,266 | – | ||||||
| Total | 3,071,440 | 390,326 | 3,461,766 | 4,355,441 | 1,707,703 | 237,380 | – | 6,300,524 | 4,555,215 | 2,190,208 | 2,393,847 | 783,647 | 162,224 | 10,085,141 |
| Yearly Total | 3,461,766 | 6,300,524 | 10,085,141 | |||||||||||
In the first seven months of the year, India’s coal imports totaled 112.5 million tons, with Indonesia the largest supplier at 43.4 million.
However, Indonesia’s share of imports is declining, running at 38.6% of the total so far in 2018, down from 43.8% for the whole of 2017.
In contrast, South Africa’s share of Indian imports in the first seven months of 2018 rose to 18.1%, from 17.1% for 2017, while that of the United States rose to 9.6% from 7.1%.
South Africa and the United States supply higher grades of coal with greater energy content than Indonesia. It makes sense for captive-power plant buyers in India to seek higher quality coal as it maximizes the output from their plants.
Australia’s share of India’s imports is also up, rising to 23.9% in the first seven months of 2018 from 22.6% in 2017.
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