Coal news and updates

India’s coal imports from S Africa up 14.47% in July m-o-m

August 11: Indian companies imported a total of 2,861,772 tons of coal from South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) during July 2014, up 14.47% from 2,500,020 tons imported in June, according to data made available to ICMW by one of the promoters of the terminal.

This constituted as much as 52.78% of the total coal exported through RBCT during the July 2014.

Imports in July were, however, 20.03% higher compared to 2,384,158 tons in July 2013.

For the first seven months of 2014, total imports by Indian companies from South Africa stood at 15,723,209 tons, up nearly 15.67% from 13,593,384 tons imported during the corresponding period of 2013.

In fact, India’s coal imports from South declined marginally to 20.45 million tons (mt) in 2013-14 as compared to 21.16 mt in 2012-13, largely due to sharp increase in international coal prices in the first quarter of 2013-14 and a sharp depreciation in the Indian currency that made exports highly expensive.

India’s coal imports from South Africa stood at 17.35 mt in 2011-12.

In July 2014, out of 27 vessels, three (439,193 tons) sailed for Krishnapatnam Port, four (641,459 tons) for Dhamra Port and three (232,517 tons) for New Mangalore Port amongst others.

On the other hand, during June 2014, out of the 22 vessels, three vessels (467,044 tons) sailed for Krishnapatnam Port, two for Mormugao (167,514 tons) and two for Gangavaram (247,497 tons) amongst others.

Following are the details of India's monthly coal imports from RBCT in 2014 and 2013 (in tons):