Coal news and updates

Indian power cos’ Q3 FY15 coal imports up 35% y-o-y

January 13: Imports of steam coal by Indian power utilities during the quarter ended December 31, 2014 (October-December) of 2014-15 increased 34.85% to 24.991 million tons (mt) compared to 18.533 mt recorded during the corresponding quarter of 2013-14, according to provisional data compiled by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and available to ICMW.

During the previous quarter (Q2) of 2014-15, coal imports by the power utilities stood at 21.156 mt.

In fact, imports of steam coal by Indian power utilities during the first nine months (April-December) of 2014-15 increased 15.56% to 68.759 mt compared to 59.502 mt recorded during the corresponding period of 2013-14, as per the CEA data.

A weak trend in international coal prices appears to have encouraged imported coal-based utilities to go in for higher imports, industry experts believe.

Of the total imports during the period, 32.337 mt was brought by imported coal-based power plants, up 3.74% from 31.171 mt imported in the same period of the previous year.

However, imports by domestic coal-based power plants, which use imported coal for blending, rose 19.73% to 36.422 mt from 30.419 mt in the same period of last year.

In December, imports by power utilities touched a record 8.499 mt, up 1.02% as compared to 8.413 mt imported in November, largely due to higher imports by imported coal-based plants, the data revealed.

Imports in December were the highest so far in 2014-15.

Volumes brought into India by imported-coal based utilities during the month, also rose 14.56% to 4.028 mt (provisional) as compared to 3.516 mt imported in November.

However, imports by domestic coal-based utilities during the month dropped by 8.69% to 4.471 mt (provisional) in December from 4.897 mt (revised) in November.

The following chart provides the monthly break-up of coal imports by utilities in 2014-15 and 2013-14 (in mt):