Coal news and updates

Coal import demand to remain modest

February 10: Sustained firmness in South African coal prices, increased coal stocks at various ports and demand slump in user segments will continue to restrict demand for imports in the coming week, market sources said.

Supply tightening in South Africa due to loading problems led to an increase in FOB prices by $1-1.5/ton over the last week. Also, market expectations that the Chinese would return to the market post-holidays is adding to the upward pressure on prices, sources said.

“In the domestic market, there is not much demand in the consuming segments such as cement. In such a scenario, we don’t expect much demand from Indian buyers,” they added.

Also, coal stocks at various ports like Mumbai have been comfortable in recent weeks. 

In line with market expectation, India's imports of coal, including steam, coking, anthracite, PCI, pet coke and met coke, through the 20 major and minor ports were estimated to have dropped by 24.37% to 2.15 million tons (mt) in the week ended February 7 on a week-on-week basis, according to a compilation by ICMW. This was the third weekly fall in a row.

“If other things remain unchanged, the soft trend in imports may continue till next month,” the sources said.