India's coal imports decline by 12% in April-August 2021

Total coal imports in India have dropped by 12% year-on-year (YoY) to 94.15 million tonnes (mt) during April-August 2021 due to reduced imports of non-coking coal. The Ministry of Coal said that it had caused financial savings in the country as coal prices are sharply increasing in the international market. According to a statement, following reduced imports of non-coking coal in 2021, the total imports of coal has reduced to 94.15 mt from April to August, compared to 107.01 mt in 2019-20. The imports of non-coking coal of all varieties have reduced by 16.09% to 70.85 mt in April-August of FY22, over the same period in FY 2019-22. India has imported 84.44 mt of different varieties of non-coking coal during the same period in FY 2019-20. During the first five months of FY 2021-22, imports of all varieties of non-coking coal had reduced to 70.85 mt, compared to 84.44 mt in the same period in FY 2019-20, witnessing a decline of about 16.09%. In FY 2021-22, the imports of low calorific value non-coking coal dropped by 47% to 15.24 mt from 28.69 mt during the same period in FY 2019-20. India has been importing coal to fill the gap between the requirement and domestic production of coal. Its dependence on imports for coking coal is mostly used in the steel industry, now predominantly due to limited coal production. However, the total domestic dispatch of coal has increased by 9.44% to 317.69 mt in FY22, compared to 290.28 mt in the last fiscal year. This growth was achieved despite unprecedented rain in several mining zones. The government and Coal India Limited (CIL) are continuing their efforts to increase the domestic production of coal. Image Source Also read: Centre enables 50% sale of coal from captive mines