NEW DELHI: The country’s coal imports witnessed a modest rise of 1.65% during April-January period of current financial year (FY24) as against the same period in the previous year (FY23), according to data compiled by Mjunction Services Ltd, a B2B e-commerce platform.
Total imports reached 212.24 million tonne (MT) in FY24. The data also showed there was a slight shift in the types of coal imported. Imports of non-coking coal, primarily used for power generation, dipped marginally to 136.47 MT in FY24 compared to 136.90 MT in FY23. Conversely, imports of coking coal, used in steel production, rose to 47.32 MT in FY24 from 46.09 MT in FY23.
This trend continued in January 2024. Total coal imports through major and non-major ports reached 19.81 MT in January 2024, up from 16.97 MT in January 2023. Similarly, non-coking coal imports increased to 12.10 MT in January 2024 from 10.01 MT in January 2023. However, coking coal imports dipped slightly to 4.50 MT in January 2024 compared to 4.74 MT in January 2023.
“India’s demand for imported coal has softened in recent weeks,” said Vinaya Varma, MD and CEO of Mjunction Services. “We anticipate this trend to persist in March due to ample domestic coal availability at mine sites and power plants.”
Provisional government data reveals India’s domestic coal output has increased. During this period, production climbed to 784.11 MT, as against 698.99 MT in the corresponding period of FY23.
The Mjunction Services Limited kicked off its two-day 17th Indian Coal Markets Conference at Taj Bengal in Kolkata today. The conference discussed key issues facing the energy and coal sectors amidst global geopolitical crises and the drive towards emission control and decarbonisation. Amrit Lal Meena, secretary, coal ministry, stated, “Coal consumption in India will continue to grow for many years but will peak by 2040. We are now witnessing many private sector companies undertaking underground (UG) mines in commercial coal mine auctions.”