India's coal import rises 13% to 26 MT in April: mjunction

India's coal import rises due to the power sector and non-regulated sectors' pre-monsoon restocking.

India's coal import rose by 13.2% to 26.10 million tonne (MT) in April 2024 as buyers took fresh positions amid early onset of summer.

People working at a coal mine. (Ravi Choudhary/HT File Photo)

The country had imported 23.05 MT of coal in the year-ago period, according to data compiled by B2B e-commerce company mjunction services ltd.

This comes amid coal and mines minister G Kishan Reddy stating that India should increase domestic production of the fossil fuel and reduce coal imports.

"India’s coal and coke imports in April 2024 through the major and non-major ports increased by 13.2% over April 2023," the data showed.

Of the total import in April, non-coking coal imports stood at 17.40 MT against 15.15 MT in the year-ago month. Coking coal import was 4.97 MT against 4.77 MT.

"There was an increase in volumes. Going ahead, there may be continued demand from both the power and non-regulated sectors due to pre-monsoon restocking," mjunction MD & CEO Vinaya Varma said.

Coal imports in April were up by 8.93% as against March when imports stood at 23.96 MT.

India's coal import rose by 7.7% to 268.24 MT in the financial year 2023-24 driven by softness in seaborne prices and likelihood of increase in power demand during summer.

The country's coal import was 249.06 MT in the financial year 2022-23.