India’s coal imports expected to ease on higher domestic availability

India’s coal imports, which jumped 28.1% in November, are expected to decline in the coming months due to increased availability of domestic supplies, according to industry data cited by India Times.

Coal imports rose to 25.07 million tonnes (MT) in November, up from 19.57 MT in the same month last year, data compiled by mjunction services showed. Mjunction is a B2B e-commerce platform and a joint venture between state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Tata Steel.

 “There was an uptick in volumes in November mainly due to winter restocking by steel mills. Some buyers also took fresh positions as seaborne prices remained weak,” mjunction Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Vinaya Varma said. “In the coming months, however, we expect imports to decline due to increased domestic availability.”

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Of the total imports in November, non-coking coal accounted for 14.28 MT, up from 12.32 MT a year earlier. Coking coal imports stood at 6.51 MT, compared with 4.25 MT in November of the previous financial year.

For the April–November period of the current fiscal year, India’s coal imports rose to 186.16 MT, from 182.02 MT in the corresponding period last year, indicating continued reliance on overseas supplies despite government efforts to boost domestic production.

Coal output by Coal India Ltd (CIL), which accounts for more than 80% of India’s coal production, fell 3.7% year on year to 453.5 MT during April–November, compared with 471 MT in the same period last year. The decline comes even as the government intensifies measures to raise output and curb imports.

Coal India has set a production target of 875 MT and an offtake target of 900 MT for FY26. In FY25, the miner produced 781.1 MT, about 7% below its annual target of 838 MT.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak