India’s coal import increased by 13.4 per cent to 20.72 million tonnes (mt) in April 2019 compared to 18.27 mt in the same month last year. Of the total imports during April 2019, non-coking coal or thermal coal shipments were at 15.08 mt, according to provisional data by m-junction services, said a report.
Imports of coking coal used in iron and steel making were 3.52 mt in April while metallurgical coke imports during the month amounted to 0.22 mt.
m-junction, a joint venture of 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 2017-18, the latest m-junction data showed.
Meanwhile, the government has urged state-run Coal India to achieve self-sufficiency in production so as to eliminate import of thermal coal. The government has set a target of 1 billion tonnes of coal production by 2019-20 for the company, as per the report.
