India’s coal import rises 41% to 25.23 MT in July, shows data

New Delhi: India’s coal import rose by 40.56 per cent to 25.23 million tonne (MT) in July, according to data compiled by B2B e-commerce platform mjunction services. The country’s coal import was 17.95 MT in the corresponding month of previous fiscal.

Coal import also rose to 100.48 MT in the April-July period of the ongoing fiscal from 89.11 MT a year ago, it said.

mjunction MD & CEO Vinaya Varma said the import demand is likely to be buoyant in coming weeks, ahead of the festive season next month.

“Imports of non-coking coal showed an uptrend amid softening of prices in the seaborne market. There, however, was a drop in coking coal volumes due to tepid demand from the steel mills,” mjunction services said.

Of the total imports in July, non-coking coal’s share stood at 16.52 MT, against 10.16 MT imported in the same month a year ago. Coking coal import volume was 4.81 MT against 5.03 MT in July last fiscal.

During the April-July period, non-coking coal import was higher at 65.64 MT compared to 56.69 MT a year ago. Coking coal import was marginally up at 20.26 MT as against 20.24 MT. Coal and Mines minister G Kishan Reddy had earlier said that India should increase domestic production of the fossil fuel and reduce coal imports. India’s coal import rose 7.7 per cent to 268.24 MT in FY24. In July, coal production rose 6.36 per cent year-on-year to 74 MT.

India’s total coal production in April-July was 321.39 MT, up 9.6 per cent from the same period a year ago.