Thermal coal imports up 13% at major Indian ports
India’s major ports handled 89.5 million metric tonnes (MT) of imported thermal coal during April 2015 - February 2016, an increase of 13% over the same period during 2014-15, a recent data released by the Indian Ports Association (IPA) said. However, imports of coking coal decreased by 3% to 28.3 million MT during the 11-month period of 2015-16 as compared to the corresponding period of 2014-15, the data showed. Paradip Port on the east coast of India received the maximum amount of thermal coal. Overall imports of coking coal grew by 4% to 28.6 million MT in April – February this fiscal as against the same period of last fiscal. Of late, the government has asked India’s major steel manufacturers to convert domestic medium-quality coal into premium coking coal to help reduce the country’s annual import bill of over $4 billion. India imports coking coal mostly from Australia and South Africa. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been emphasising on manufacturing power-generating thermal coal in the domestic market. Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has held several meetings with the Indian coal-producers including Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India (SAIL). He has asked them to focus more on the domestic production of coking coal and import only the medium-grade coking coal. Meanwhile, both the government and the industry expect the imports to go down considering the quantity of coal domestic producers are generating. Currently, there are tonnes of coal stockpiled at various mines and power stations, which is likely to reduce demand for expansive thermal coal imports in the coming months. The 12 major state-run ports i.e. Chennai, Cochin, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Kamarajar (Ennore), Kandla, Kolkata, Mormugao, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, V.O. Chidambaranar (Tuticorin), handles the country’s maximum inbound shipments.
March 14, 2016 | 02:55pm IST
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