Indian utilities’ April-July thermal coal imports fall 17.5% on year: CEA

Indian power utilities imported around 22.6 million mt of thermal coal in April-July, down 17.5% from the corresponding period last year, according to the most recent data from the Central Electricity Authority.

Of the total, around 7.6 million mt of steam coal was imported by 27 utilities for blending with domestic coal, while around 15 million mt was imported by 10 utilities for plants based on imported coal.

While 16 utilities didn’t import any coal during the first four months of the current 2016-17 fiscal year, data was not available for two utilities.

Adani Power imported the highest volume at around 5.4 million mt, followed by Tata’s Mundra ultra mega power plant at almost 3 million mt and JSW Energy at around 1.4 million mt and state-run Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corp or TANGEDCO at 1.2 million mt, data showed.

CEA has not assigned any targets for power utilities for the current fiscal year because of an increased supply of domestic coal from state-run miner Coal India Limited (CIL).

However, they can import coal if they find imported material to be more economical than using domestic coal, especially for coastal power plants, even though the government aims to eliminate coal imports within a couple of years.

Utilities imported around 80.47 million mt of steam coal in fiscal year 2015-16, down 11.8% year on year, and below the target of 84 million mt. While 36.98 million mt was imported for blending, 43.49 million mt was imported for plants based on imported coal.
Source: platts