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India’s thermal coal imports more than China’s in H1

India imported substantially more thermal coal in the first half of fiscal 2015 than last year, overtaking even China’s imports of the fuel, a report by Fitch Ratings said on Friday.

According to the report, the 35 per cent higher imports of thermal coal in India over the same period in the pervious year were due to its “lower self-sufficiency rate” than last year.

The imports during the first half of the fiscal were higher than China’s despite India’s total coal use being less than a fifth of China.

“Fitch believes the weak financial profile of India’s many state-owned power distributors is likely to keep affecting power generation and thus demand for coal,” the report stated.

While Coal India’s production in April-August 2015 has grown 9.4 per cent to 192.37 million tonnes, the coal mines which were de-allocated last September are yet to be fully operational. There were 42 coal mines which were producing when the Supreme Court cancelled the mining leases. These were the first to be auctioned in February-March this year but delays in getting approvals in place has meant only seven are currently operational.

Fitch Ratings said that a rebound in thermal coal prices is unlikely in the short term as China, which accounts for 70 per cent of coal use in the Asia Pacific region, is likely to see a depressed coal demand.

Weak demand is also affecting Indonesia. The falling prices have led to a drop in Indonesian coal output and exports, the report added.
Source: The Hindu Business Line