India?s coal import bill is expected to remain above R7,000 crore this fiscal despite global benchmark prices falling 20% to an average of $ 85 per tonne and imports expected to fall above 2% in FY 13.
A coal ministry data shows coal imports grew 49.23% in year-on-year to 102.853 million tonne in FY 12. But this would not surpass 100 mt this fiscal given the current import trends, a coal ministry official said.
Import till September this fiscal has been estimated to be around 30 mt against 51 mt till September last fiscal. After almost 60% fall in imports till September, imports grew 185% in November to 10.85 mt from 3.8 mt during the corresponding period last fiscal.
This change in situation is expected to take India?s coal import to 100 mt at the end of FY13, the ministry official said.
The demand and supply gap this fiscal has been pegged at 192 mt. But there has hardly been any demand surge of imported thermal coal since power capacity addition grew at a slower pace than expected and industrial output rose only a meager 0.1% from July onwards. From April to July this fiscal, industrial output contracted 0.1%, the official said.
Union minister of state for coal Pratik Prakash Babu Patil told FE that India?s spending on coal imports have sharply risen in the last three fiscal but this fiscal it would remain flat.
The country has imported R15,956 crore worth of coal in the last three fiscal with nearly half of this bill paid in FY 12. India imported R7,883.86 crore worth of coal in FY 12, up 89.74% from R4,154.96 crore worth of imports in FY 11. Although in quantity terms India?s imports dropped 5.92 % to 68.918 mt in FY 11, in value terms it rose 6.04% to R4,154.96 crore from 3,918 crore in FY 10. In FY 10 India imported 73.255 mt, a coal ministry data showed.
An NTPC official said the company, which planned 16 mt of imports this fiscal, could not aggressively import despite fall in global prices since it did not get a proper hedge against the rupee. The company would require building a foreign exchange stock to become immune to the rupee- dollar fluctuation. It was expected that Coal India (CIL) would import above 20 mt this fiscal to meet its supply commitments but there has been no import orders placed so far, chairman S Narsing Rao said. CIL is supposed to meet 80% trigger level supplying 15% imported coal. The imports are supposed to be made on the basis of order placed and on a cost plus basis. None of the consumers so far have chosen CIL to import coal on their behalf. NTPC, CIL?s largest coal consumer, has decided to go for imports on its own. There has been an improvement in spot buying from the international market post monsoon amid a sluggish industrial growth, an official of the state trading corporation of India, said.