India’s coal imports improve somewhat, but recovery is uneven: Russell

By Clyde Russell | Reuters

India’s coal imports, depressed by the impact of coronavirus this year, regained ground in September, but in an uneven uptick – shipments rose for higher-grade coking and thermal grades, but slid for lower-rank fuel used mainly in power plants.

India’s total coal imports in September were estimated at 14.62 million tonnes by Refinitiv vessel-tracking and port data, up from 12.97 million in August.

That was the strongest performance by the world’s second-biggest coal importer since April, although imports were still down 6.3% from the 15.61 million tonnes recorded in September 2019.

For the first nine months of the year, imports were estimated at 128.24 million tonnes, a 17% slide from the 154.8 million in the same period last year…Full Story