Coking coal
traffic at the Paradip port, one of the biggest coal handling port in the
country, dropped 13.78 % in the April-February period to 4.52 million ton YoY
basis. Coking coal traffic during the same period last year was 5.24 million
tons. Since India completely depends upon import for its coking coal
requirement, drop in port traffic directly implies to drop in coking coal
import.
India's
February coking coal imports drop almost 34% to 2.3 million tons in the month
of February from 3.5 million tons in January 2013. Similarly the country's
total coking coal imports remain flat at 25.97 million tons during the
April-February period of the current financial year against the last financial
year.
On the
other hand, thermal coal traffic handled at the Paradip port in April-February
period 2012-2013 increased by 28.84% to 19.12 million tons from 14.8 million
tons in the same period in 2011-12. During this time country's thermal coal traffic at various
ports increased by 15.95 % to 53.06 million tons from 45.76 million tons YoY
basis.
Although,
Odisha is a significant thermal coal producer, power plants import low ash
thermal coal from countries like Indonesia and Australia. India's thermal coal
import is estimated to increase by 20% in the current financial year.
Reported by- Tapan Moharana
