Coal imports rise 40% on restocking demand in November
NEW DELHI: Coal imports surged by 40 per cent to 19.18 million tonnes (MT) in November, mainly due to pick up in demand for winter restocking and low coal stock position in power plants.
"Coal import (all type of coals) in November 2017 stood at 19.18 MT (provisional), against 13.70 MT in November 2016 and 19.77 MT in October 2017," as per the latest data by m- junction services.
mjunction services is an online procurement and sales platform floated jointly by state-run SAIL and steel behemoth Tata Steel.
The higher volume of imports is mainly due to 4.18 MT increase in non-coking coal imports during the month under review, the data showed.
There was also a healthy growth in coking coal imports in November 2017 on a yearly basis.
"The demand for winter restocking and the low coal stock position at power plants led to the high volumes in non-coking coal import.
Also, the uptrend in coking coal prices coupled with supply concerns saw the buyers taking fresh positions in that market," mjunction CEO Vinaya Varma said.
Of the 19.18 MT of coal imported in November, 13.15 MT was non-coking coal, followed by coking coal at 3.9 MT, among others.
Coal imports witnessed a decline of 6.37 per cent at 191.95 MT in 2016-17 on higher production by Coal India Ltd that saw the country moving to a regime of surplus coal.
Source:- Dailyshippingtimes.com
