India's Power-Plant Coal Imports May Rise by 16% to Fuel Economic Growth.

India’s utilities may increase coal imports by about 16 percent in the year ending March, trader mjunction Services Ltd. said.

The South Asian nation’s coal imports this financial year may exceed 80 million metric tons, including 51 million tons of power-station fuel, according to mjunction, a web-based trader backed by Tata Steel Ltd. and the Steel Authority of India Ltd.

Consumption of coal in India is increasing at 9 to 10 percent a year while production is growing at 7 percent, creating a shortage of the fuel, mjunction said in a note to clients dated Oct. 18. India needs to double the pace of growth in power-station coal supply to help economic expansion, Credit Suisse Group AG said in July.

India’s thermal coal imports rose by about 16 percent to 44 million tons in the year ended March 2010 from 38 million tons a year earlier, according to data from the nation’s coal ministry.

The country had 23 coal-fired generators with stockpiles to last less than a week and 11 plants with less than four days of inventories as of Oct. 18, according to data from the Central Electricity Authority’s website. That compares with 21 plants with less than seven days of supplies a week earlier.

Power plants must typically carry coal adequate to last for 15 to 30 days, according to the regulator.

The International Monetary Fund revised India’s 2010 economic growth forecast in July to 9.4 percent from its prediction of 8.8 percent in April.

Source : bloomberg.com