Pakistan Coal Imports Witness Modest Growth M-o-M in Nov’19

Coal shipments taken by Pakistan have continued the uptrend during Nov’19, edging past the levels attained in the previous month.

Data compiled by CoalMint Research indicate that Pakistan coal imports increased 1% on the month to 1,317,204 MT in Nov’19, compared with 1,303,491 MT in Oct’19.

After witnessing a slow demand lately amid a weakened currency and subdued performance of the cement industry, Pakistan has seen robust coal intake in the past two months. Apparently, imports in Nov’19 had registered an 8-month high total, while rising 29% on the year from 1,017,339 MT in Nov’18.

The major driver behind the increased coal intake was the significant growth in country’s cement sales which had rose to a 4-month high of 4,983,939 MT in Oct’19, data provided by Pakistan cement manufacturer association showed.

Consequently, coal imports by the cement sector had increased 22% M-o-M to 487,747 MT in Nov’19 as against 400,728 MT in Oct’19. Besides, intake by major coal recipient-power sector was also noted 22% higher on the month at 649,544 MT in Nov’19.

However, there was a monthly decline noted in coal sourcing from traders and other small scale industries.

Source: CoalMint Research
Provisional Data
Quantity in MT

Major Coal Suppliers:
Pakistan’s coal intake from its chief supplier-South Africa, had fell 10% on the month to 935,582 in Nov’19 compared with 1,037,749 MT in Oct’19.

A rise of 18% was noted in coal sourcing from Indonesia, which stood 314,706 MT in Nov’19 as against 265,742 MT in Oct’19.

Remaining 66,916 MT coal was procured from the US, which in fact was the first coal shipments recorded from the country in CY19. The coal imported from the US was specifically bought by the cement manufacturers.

During the first 11 month of CY19 (Jan-Nov’19), Pakistan’s coal imports have reached 13,187,506 MT down 3% on the year from 13,546,410 MT noted in the year-ago period.