India’s Coal Imports From South Africa Fall, Mjunction Says.

India’s power-station coal imports from South Africa fell 39 percent in July from a year earlier, according to India Coal Market Watch, published by Kolkata-based online trading company mjunction Services Ltd.

Supplies from South Africa dropped to 1.29 million metric tons from 2.1 million a year earlier, mjunction Services Ltd., a joint venture between Tata Steel Ltd. and Steel Authority of India Ltd., said in the report.

Imports from South Africa have declined as average coal prices at Richards Bay rose 37 percent in the first seven months to $120.20 a ton from a year earlier, data from Petersfield, U.K.-based researcher IHS McCloskey showed. Shipments from the African country slumped 21 percent to 7.55 million tons in the first half, according to India Coal.

Coal prices at Richards Bay gained 1.5 percent week-on-week to an average $117.46 a ton in the seven days ended July 29, data from IHS McCloskey showed.

Shipments from Richards Bay Coal Terminal, on South Africa’s east coast, dropped 27 percent in July from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data on the terminal’s website.

India imported about 21 million tons of the fuel last year from South Africa.

Source : businessweek.com