Coal news and updates

Indian power utilities Oct coal imports up 14% m-o-m

India Coal Market Watch

November 30: Indian power utilities’ coal imports in October 2015 stood at 6.83 million tons (mt) against 6.00 mt in September, up 13.83% month-on-month, according to provisional data available with ICMW from CEA.

 However, on a year-on-year basis, the imports in October this year were down 15.47% from 8.08 mt imported in the same month in 2014, according to data.

The power utilities total coal imports during the first seven months (April-October) of 2015-16 declined by 7.27% to 48.08 million tons (mt) from 51.85 mt seen during the same period in 2014-15.

Higher availability of domestic coal and lower-than-expected growth in demand for electricity from distribution companies (discoms) due to their poor financial condition appear to have impacted the imports scenario by utilities, industry sources said.

 Indian power utilities coal imports had been falling gradually since the beginning of this financial year on the back of increased availability of domestic coal that have prompted many generation companies to postpone or cancel their import plans.

In view of the increased availability of domestic coal, the CEA has reduced the coal import target for all utilities to 84 mt for 2015-16 from the previous 115 mt. The coal import target for the utilities in 2014-15 had stood at 96 mt.

The total receipt of domestic coal by CEA-monitored plants during April-October increased 4.98% to 313.948 mt, from 299.044 mt received during the same period of 2014-15.

However, more than increased availability of domestic coal, it is the lack of demand for electricity from discoms that is affecting coal imports by utilities, feel industries sources.

According to data available with ICMW, the CEA-monitored (thermal) power plants generated a total of 538.722 billion units (BU) of electricity during the first seven months of 2015-16, up 6.54% from 505.670 BU generated during the same period of 2014-15.

The generation in October 2015 stood 13.07% higher at 85.941 BU compared to 76.006 BU in September 2014, according to a CEA data.