Coal news and updates

India’s Oct coal imports from S Africa up 64% m-o-m

India Coal Market Watch

November 18: India’s imports of coal from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in South Africa (SA) stood at 3,617,443 tons in October 2015 against 2,209,969 seen in the preceding month of September, recording a substantial increase of 63.68% month-on-month, according to data available with ICMW.

 Imports of the fuel in October 2015, on a year-on-year basis, edged down 1.21% compared to 3,661,610 reported in the same month in 2014, indicating that due to increased domestic production of late, demand for the fuel from overseas has dipped.

 However, total imports of the fuel in the first seven months of the current fiscal of 2015-16 (April-October) stood at 29,638,407 tons against 19,672,128 tons recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal, showing a sizeable increase of 50.66%.

 When the first 10 months of the calendar are considered (January-October, 2015), imports of the material were at 29,638,407 tons, up 22.33% compared to 24,227,858 tons recorded in the same period of the previous calendar.

 In fact, India accounted for as much as 47.89% of the total 61.88 mt of total coal exported through RBCT in the first 10 months of 2015. This percentage is higher compared to India’s share of 42.35% at 30.17 mt against RBCT’s total exports of 71.24 mt in the same period of calendar 2014.

Following table gives details of India's monthly coal imports from RBCT in 2015 and 2014 (in tons):