Coal imports to cross 100 million tonnes, to grow 28.3% this fiscal.

Despite a likely increase in coal production in the country, the import of the commodity would surge in the current financial year as demand continues to grow at a robust pace. Coal imports are expected to grow by 28.3% to 127 million tonnes in 2012-13. Imports are estimated to have reached about 99 million tonnes in 2011-12, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

The country imported 95.8 million tonnes of coal between April 2011 and February 2012. Domestic production of coal is not sufficient to meet the rising demand from power, steel and cement industries resulting in huge imports. Indian companies import coal mostly from Australia, Indonesia and South Africa. Imported coal accounts for 10-15% of the coal supply in the country.

Aided by an increase in coal mining capacity and scrapping of g/no-go classification, coal production is expected to grow by 8.3% in 2012-13. Coal output remained subdued in 2011-12 registering a mere 1.2% rise due to heavy rains and flooding in mining areas, strikes by employees of companies involved in coal production, the Telangana agitation and environmental issues.

With rainfall anticipated to be normal and the ministry of environment and forests scrapping the go/no-go classification, coal production would get a boost, CMIE said in its monthly review of the economy. Meanwhile, the deceleration in the coal index continued in April this year. The coal production index advanced 3.8% to 131.7 points during the month. It fell 35% on a sequential (month-on-month) basis.

But this is not a cause for concern as every year coal production witnesses a seasonal fall in April, CMIE said. The coal transported through railways rose 7.9% to 40.3 million tonnes. This indicates that sufficient coal was made available to major user industries such as steel and power. A vast majority of coal is transported by the railways.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com