New Delhi: India’s coal imports rose sharply by 28.1 per cent in November but are expected to decline in the coming months due to higher availability of domestic coal, according to industry data.
Coal imports in November stood at 25.07 MT, up from 19.57 MT in the same month last year, data compiled by mjunction services ltd showed. Mjunction is a B2B e-commerce platform and a joint venture between SAIL and Tata Steel.
The increase was largely driven by seasonal restocking and favourable global prices. “There was an uptick in volumes in November mainly due to winter restocking by steel mills. Some buyers also took fresh positions as seaborne prices remained weak,” mjunction MD & CEO Vinaya Varma said. He added that imports are likely to ease in coming months as domestic supply improves.
Of the total coal imported in November, non-coking coal shipments rose to 14.28 MT from 12.32 MT a year earlier. Coking coal imports increased more sharply, reaching 6.51 MT compared with 4.25 MT in November of the previous fiscal.
For the April–November period of the current financial year, coal imports climbed to 186.16 MT, compared with 182.02 MT in the corresponding period last year, reflecting continued reliance on overseas supplies despite policy efforts to boost domestic production.
Coal output by Coal India Ltd (CIL), which accounts for more than 80 per cent of India’s coal production, declined 3.7 per cent to 453.5 MT during April–November of the current fiscal, from 471 MT in the year-ago period. The decline comes even as the government steps up measures to raise domestic output and curb imports.
Coal India has set a production target of 875 MT and an offtake target of 900 MT for FY26. In FY25, the miner produced 781.1 MT, about 7 per cent short of its target of 838 MT for the year.