India’s coal import increased by 12.4% to 18.49 million tons in January, against 16.44 MT in the same month of the previous fiscal, according to m-junction, a leading name in the e-auction space, PTI reported. On a month-on-month basis, however, there was a flat growth in non-coking coal, it said, adding the “met coal imports were up both on a yearly and monthly basis, thanks to the downtrend in January prices and the recent growth spurt in the Indian steel sector. The higher volume of coal and coke imports in January (about 12.5% growth year-on-year) is mainly due to 1 MT increase in both non-coking coal and met coal imports during the month under review,” m-junction services—an online procurement and sales platform floated jointly by state-run SAIL and steel behemoth Tata Steel—said. “Coal import (all type) in January 2018 stood at 18.49 MT (provisional), higher than 16.44 MT recorded for January 2017,” it said. Overall, coal and coke imports in April-January of 2017-18 stood at 179.5 MT, marginally lower than 180.8 MT recorded for the same period last year.
