Coal news and updates

Low enquiry in India for stock and sales material

November 15: The Indian market for stocks and sales business is passing through a period of lean demand from consumers, an official from a stock and trade company said.

"The market is extremely weak. We expected it to pick up after Diwali, but that is yet to happen and the reasons behind this scenario are unclear. We are unable to understand the reason for current state of affairs," the official said.

"Even though stocks of imported coal have fallen to some extent due to increased despatches to power companies who had brought the material through open tenders, the stocks of traders are almost the same at major ports," he added.

Not only Krishnapatnam, but ports like Tuticorin and Mangalore too are having fairly good stocks lying on behalf of traders as sales have not picked up as per expectations, the official said, but expressed confidence that the situation is likely to improve from this month onwards.

"The sales should pick up from this month," the official asserted.

A large number of small consumers whose requirements vary from as less as 500 tons per month to up to 10,000 tons per month generally buy imported coal through stock and trade suppliers, industry sources said.

"There are, at present, more sellers in the market than buyers and because of this the offers and bids are not matching. While most of the offers are at around $38.50 per ton, the bids are coming in at $35-$36 per ton," said an official with another trading company.