Indian power utilities imported around 29 million mt of thermal coal from April to August, down 15% from the same period a year ago, according to data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) seen by S&P Global Platts Friday.
Of the total, around 10 million mt of thermal coal was imported by 27 utilities for blending with domestic coal while around 19 million mt was imported by 11 utilities for their power plants based on imported coal.
While 15 utilities didn't import any coal during the first five months of the current fiscal year 2016-17, data was not available for one utility.
During April-August, Adani Power imported the highest volumes at around 6.5 million mt, followed by Tata's Mundra ultra mega power plant at 4 million mt and JSW Energy at around 1.9 million mt, data showed.
On a monthly basis, around 5 million mt of thermal coal was imported by utilities in August, down 16% from the same month a year ago. Of this around 2 million mt was imported by utilities for blending -- the balance was imported for power plants, which use only imported material.
The consumption of imported coal in the country has been going down because state-run Coal India Limited has increased production and therefore the CEA has not assigned any targets for power utilities for the current fiscal year. However, it can procure import coal if it finds it to be more economical than using domestic coal especially for coastal power plants.
Utilities had imported around 80.47 million mt of thermal coal in fiscal year 2015-16, down 11.8% year on year, and below the target of 84 million mt. While 36.98 million mt was imported for blending, 43.49 million mt was imported for plants based on imported coal.
