India’s thermal coal imports increased by nearly 8 per cent y-o-y in Q1FY24 (April to June) to 34.6 million tonnes (mt), up from 32 mt in the year-ago period; while coking coal imports shot up by 9 per cent to 15 mt during the period, data compiled from the country’s major ports show.
Coking coal imports in the year-ago period (Q1FY23) stood at 13.8 mt.
On a sequential basis, imports of thermal coal fell 10.5 per cent to 10.74 mt in June (from 12 mt in May) while coking coal shipments dropped by 12 per cent to 4.88 mt (from 5.55 mt in May), respectively, Ports Ministry data showed.
India’s major ports include Syama Prasad Mookherjee Port (formerly Kolkata Port Trust) that includes the Kolkata and Haldia dock systems together; Paradip; Vishakhapatnam; Kamarajar (or Ennore port); Chennai; VO Chidambaranar; Cochin; New Mangalore; Mormugao; Mumbai; Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA); and Deendayal. Cargo traffic across these ports saw a 1.74 per cent increase to 200.3 mt for April – June 2023; against 197 mt in Q1FY22.
Port-wise shipments
For the quarter under review, Paradip port handled the highest thermal coal shipments at 12.8 mt; or nearly 37 per cent of the total thermal coal coming into the country. On a y-o-y basis, shipments coming in went up by 9 per cent from 11.8 mt in Q1FY23.
Ennore port handled the second largest shipment of 6.18 mt (18 per cent) for the period under review; down 2 per cent-odd y-o-y . Shipments to Ennore port in the same period last fiscal was 6.20 mt.
Thermal coal shipments to other ports like Deendayal, Mumbai, New Mangalore were up on a y-o-y basis; while Mormugao and Vizag saw coal shipments decline y-o-y .
On the coking coal front, the Halda dock system (part of the Syama Prasad Mookherjee port) handled the highest shipments of 4.9 mt – nearly one-third of the total cargo coming in during the period. Shipments to Haldia increased 25 per cent – odd, y-o-y.
Paradip handled the second largest shipment of coking coal coming in at 3.9 mt, 26 per cent of the total imports into India. However, coking coal handling at the port declined by over 9 per cent on a YoY basis.
Across five other ports, namely Ennore, VO Chidambaranar, New Mangalore, Mormugao and Deendayal, coking coal shipments declined on a y-o-y basis or remained the same.
Fertiliser shipments
Interestingly, finished fertiliser shipments saw the highest increase across ports; rising 66 per cent in Q1FY24 to 2.54 mt. Finished fertiliser shipments (both export and imports) stood at 1.53 mt, in the same period last year.
Deendayal port, which handled over 40 per cent of the finished fertiliser shipments, saw a 45 per cent increase y-o-y to 1.05 mt. Shipments last year was 0.72 mt. Vizag port saw the second highest movement of finished fertilisers, in Q1, to the tune of 0.45 mt, almost double over last year’s 0.28 mt.