Higher domestic coal production has led to a reduction of 36.69% in the volume of coal imported for blending by thermal power plants, amounting to 19.36 million tons (MT) from April 2023 to January 2024, compared to the same period of the previous year.
A reduction has also been noted in the share of coal import in proportion to India's total coal consumption. The share of coal import declined to 21% during April 2023 to January 2024, compared to 22.48% during the corresponding period of the previous year.
Conversely, there has been a notable increase of 94.21% in coal imports by imported coal-based power plants during April 2023 to January 2024, compared to the same period in the previous year. Explaining the reason behind this contrast, the Coal Ministry pointed that many of these power plants are designed in a manner that they can only use imported coal, while it attributed the growth in such imports to a substantial decline in prices of imported coal during this period.
India primarily imports thermal coal from South Africa and Indonesia, and average prices from these countries decreased by approximately 54% and 38% respectively during April 2023 to January 2024, compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
Also, there has been a substantial reduction in the auction premium received by Coal India Limited (CIL) over the notified price of coal, which decreased from 278% between April 2022 to January 2023 to 82% during the same period in this fiscal. The Coal Ministry attributed the reduction in auction premium to the ample availability of coal, with stocks of 96 MT currently available with coal companies.
