India's coal imports rise 9 pc to 127 MT in Apr-Sept

New Delhi: India's coal imports increased by 9.3 per cent to 126.91 million tonnes (MT) in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal, industry data showed.

The country had imported 116.04 MT of coal in April-September period of FY 2018-19, according to a provisional compilation by mjunction services, based on monitoring of vessels' positions and data received from shipping companies.

mjunction -- a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL -- is a B2B e-commerce company which also publishes research reports on coal and steel verticals.

"On a progressive basis (April-September '19) (provisional), total coal and coke imports were recorded at 126.91 MT, which is 9.36 percent higher than 116.04 MT imported for the same period (April-September '18) last year," it said.

Commenting on the coal import trend, mjunction MD and CEO Vinaya Varma said, "Although



domestic coal production has seen a negative growth in recent months, the late monsoon has affected demand from the power and other consuming sectors, leading to slackness in import demand for thermal coal."

India's coal and coke imports in September 2019 through the major and non-major ports are estimated to have decreased by 2.71 per cent over August 2019.

Imports in September 2019 stood at 18.62 MT (provisional) as compared to 19.14 MT (revised) imported in August 2019.

The provisional figure for the month of August 2019 was 19.91 MT. Earlier, coal and coke imports in September 2018 stood at 17.79 MT.

Of the total imports in September 2019, non-coking coal was at 12.23 MT against 12.38 MT imported in August 2019. Coking coal imports were at 4.59 MT in September 2019, almost unchanged from 4.58 MT imported a month ago.