LONDON: Thermal coal imports surged 18% at the country’s top 12 major ports to 55.90 million tonnes (MT) in the first seven months of the current fiscal amid government efforts to boost domestic output, led by state-owned Coal India Ltd.
These ports had handled 47.23 MT of coal during the April-October period of the last fiscal, 2014-15.
Thermal coal is the mainstay of India’s energy programme as 70% of power generation is dependent on the dry fuel, while Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has been emphasising the need to increase the production by state-run Coal India.
Imports of coking coal, used mainly for steel-making, also jumped by 6.31% to 19.38 MT, as per the latest data with the Indian Ports Authority.
The centre-owned ports had handled 18.23 MT of coking coal in April-October period of 2014-15.
Together, these ports handled 75.28 MT coal during the April-October period of the current fiscal as against 65.46 MT in the same period of the previous fiscal.
India is the third-largest producer of coal after China and the US with 299 billion tonnes of resources and 123 billion tonnes of proven reserves, which may last for over 100 years.
India has 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, V O Chidambarnar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) — which handle approximately 61% of the country’s total cargo traffic.
Thermal coal is used in power generation and with the world’s largest miner Coal India, which accounts for over 80% of the domestic requirement, consistently failing to meet its target as well as demand of the firms, the power plants resort to imports.
Less production coupled with increased demand from power firms is further widening the demand-supply gap in the country, which is likely to widen to 185.5 MT in 2016-17.
Coal India could record barely a 31 MT increase in coal production in four years from 2010 to 2014, but in 2014-15, it recorded an increase of 32 MT.
The company’s production rose by 9.15% to 273.91 MT during the April-October quarter this year compared to 250.94 MT in the year-ago period.
