India's coal import rises 13% to 21 MT in April

India's coal import increased by 13.4 per cent to 20.72 million tonnes in April compared to 18.27 million tonnes (MT) in the same last year, according to a report. Of the total imports during April 2019, non-coking coal or thermal coal shipments were at 15.08 MT, according to provisional data by mjunction services.

Imports of coking coal, used in iron and steel making, were 3.52 MT in April while metallurgical coke imports during the month were at 0.22 MT. Mjunction, a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL, is a B2B e-commerce company that also publishes research reports on coal and steel verticals.

Coal and coke imports during 2018-19 increased by 9.66 per cent to 235.35 MT as compared to 214.61 MT imported in FY2017-18, latest mjunction data showed. Commenting on the import trend, junction MD and CEO Vinaya Varma said, "The flat trend in non-coking coal import in April was in line with expectations, as the power plants continued to have sufficient stock of coal."

"This scenario may continue in the current month," he added. The Centre had earlier urged state-run Coal India to pledge self-sufficiency in production to eliminate import of thermal coal.

The government has set a target of 1 billion tonnes of coal production by 2019-20 for the mining major but is considering relaxing the timeline.