India’s imports of coal rose 11.6% to 19.04 million tonnes in September, owing to the recovery in consumption of thermal power plants and other industries, as well as to favourable prices on international markets.
In September 2019, the country imported 17.06 million tonnes ( MT) of coal, showing minimal data available with joint services.
Mjunction, a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL, is a B2B e-commerce firm and publishes coal and steel vertical analysis reports as well.
The outlook for imports remains uncertain as it depends, in the coming months, on the sustainability of operations and growth in the consumer sectors, Varma noted.
Of the total imports in September, the shipment for non cooking purpose was 11.97 MT, compared with 11.81 MT in the year-ago period. Imports for cooking purpose rose to 4.58 MT, compared to 3.54 MT in the last fiscal month of September.
However, in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal year, India’s imports fell from 125.35 MT in the same period a year earlier to 95.30 MT, it said.
Largesst exporter and producer of coal:
Australia is the world ‘s leading coal exporting country with exports of 249.4Mtoe in 2018 , accounting for 29 percent of the total exports in the world. Australia produced 301.1Mtoe in 2018, consuming approximately 15% of domestic needs.
China, which accounts for 46% of global coal production and 49% of global consumption, is by far the world’s largest producer and user almost as much as the rest of the world combined. China’s consumption drives its economic development as a manufacturing country that has high electric power requirements.
In May, imports of India stood at 3.81 million tones, up from 3.23 million tones imported a month earlier. Total imports amounted to 36.02 million tones during April-May, a decrease of 27.83 percent from the 49.90 million tones imported during the same period of the previous year.
