Sluggish Demand, Low Imports Continue in Indian Anthracite Coal Market

Sluggishness has continued to engulf the Indian Anthracite Coal market, with no improvement in sight.

Due to strong demand in international regions, import offers have been exhibiting an upward trend. The latest import offer was reported at around USD 2/MT higher, week-on-week,at USD 133/MT CFR India.

Source: Market Participants

Demand in international regions has gone stronger as a result of stocking by power plants to meet the peak demand for power during the ensuing winter season.

According to inputs received, South Korea based Midland Power Company Limited has recently purchased 80,000 MT of Anthracite Coal from QCoal, an Australia-based coal supplier, at USD 100/MT FoB.

Coming back to the home market, demand in India has remained lackluster as buyers’ preferred alternate fuels.

IMPORTS

Understandably, imports were low due to the sluggish atmosphere. During Oct’16, only 93,440 MT was imported into India, according to data compiled by CoalMint Research. The meager import volume during the month, however, was an improvement of around 43.04% over the imports of 65,320 MT in Sep’16.

Source: CoalMint Research

ORIGIN-WISE IMPORTS IN OCT’16

Source: CoalMint Research

The only importers during the month were: Rawmet Commodities, Bengal Energy and, Jindal Steel and Power Limited.

According to Coalmint Research, 587.26 ‘000MT of Anthracite Coal was imported into India during the Apr-Sep’16 period.