India’s coal imports rose 40.56 percent to 25.23 million tonnes (MT) in July, according to data compiled by B2B e-commerce platform mjunction Services.
The country’s coal imports stood at 17.95 MT in the same month last fiscal.
Coal imports also increased to 100.48 MT in the April-July period of the current fiscal year from 89.11 MT a year ago.
Mjunction Managing Director and CEO Vinay Verma said that import demand is expected to pick up in the coming weeks ahead of the festive season next month.
“Non-coking coal imports witnessed a increase due to softening of prices in the seaborne market. However, coking coal volumes declined due to weak demand from steel mills,” Mjunction Services said.
The share of non-coking coal in total imports in July was 16.52 MT, as against 10.16 MT imported in the same month a year ago. Coking coal imports stood at 4.81 MT, as against 5.03 MT imported in July last fiscal.
During the April-July period, non-coking coal imports rose to 65.64 MT from 56.69 MT a year ago. Coking coal imports rose marginally to 20.26 MT from 20.24 MT.
Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy had earlier said that India should inflation domestic production of the fossil fuel and reduce coal imports.
India’s coal imports expansion 7.7 per cent to 268.24 MT in FY24. Coal production in July grew 6.36 per cent year-on-year to 74 MT.
India’s total coal production in April-July was 321.39 metric tonnes, which is 9.6 percent more than the same period a year ago.
