NEW DELHI: India's coal import rose 30.3 percent to 22.27 million tonnes in April amid supply concerns and demand for pre-monsoon restocking of dry fuel.
The country had imported 17.09 million tonnes of coal in April last year, according to a provisional compilation by mjunction services, based on monitoring of vessels' positions and data received from shipping companies.
"India's coal and coke imports in April 2021 through the major and non-major ports are estimated to have increased by 30.3 percent over April 2020. Imports in April 2021 stood at around 22.27 million tonnes (MT) as against 17.09 MT imported in April 2020," it said.
"The demand for pre-monsoon restocking and supply concerns led to a surge in coal import during the month under review. Recently, tightened supply in overseas markets have firmed up prices. This factor coupled with the onset of monsoon is expected to keep the volumes in check in the near term," Vinaya Varma, MD & CEO, mjunction services Ltd, said mjunction -- a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL -- is a B2B e-commerce company and also publishes research reports on coal and steel verticals.
Of the total imports in April, the volume of non-coking coal was 15.32 MT, against 12. 28 MT imported in April last financial year.
Coking coal volume was 4.74 MT, up against 3.23 MT imported in April last fiscal.
During the 2020-21, total coal and coke imports stood at 215.92 MT, about 12.6 per cent lower than 247.10 MT imported during FY'20.