India: Coking coal imports drop 8% m-o-m in Sep'23 amid curtailed supplies

India's coking coal imports in September 2023 dropped 8% m-o-m at 4.24 million tonnes (mnt), as per CoalMint data. Imports dropped 11% to 4.24 mnt in September compared to 4.78 mnt in September 2022. Imports dropped amid scarcity of cargoes due to suspension of production at BMA's mines in Australia following news of accidents. The suspension applies to parts of the mine's operations.

Additionally, end-users are finding current price levels unaffordable, in turn, reducing their usage of prime-hard coking coal and relying on existing inventories to meet their needs. Amid limited supply of Australian PHCC, more mills will start to consider swapping their met coal procurement to consider met coke instead due to cost effectiveness.

State-run miner, Coal India Ltd (CIL), posted growth in coking coal production during September. Production rose by 7% y-o-y to 4.18 mnt against 3.90 mnt in September 2022.

PCI imports:

India's PCI coal imports in September dropped 36% m-o-m to 0.97 mnt, as per CoalMint data. Imports dropped nearly 24% to 0.97 in September 2023 compared to 1.27 mnt in September 2022.

Prices of Australian low-volume PCI coal rose by 12% m-o-m to $175.50/t FOB in September as against $157.24/t FOB in August.

Country-wise coking coal imports

India's coking coal imports from Australia stood at 2.37 mnt in September as against 2.63 mnt in June, down 10% m-o-m amid low availability of cargoes. Shipments from the US were recorded at 0.74 mnt as compared to 0.83 mnt in August. Shipments from Russia rose by 10% m-o-m to 0.58 mnt in September as against 0.44 mnt in August.

In contrast, shipments from Canada dropped 56% in the month under review. Exports from Poland remained stable during the month.

Company-wise imports

Qty in mnt

JSW Steel recorded the highest imports at 1.24 mnt, down 4% m-o-m as against 1.30 in August. SAIL recorded a rise of 6% in monthly import volumes at 1.09 mnt followed by RINL at 0.54 mnt. Tata Steel and Jindal Steel and Power recorded a drop of 40% and 2%, respectively.

Tata Steel Long Products and Swiss Singapore recorded a significant surge in import shipments in the month under review.

Port- wise imports

Qty in mnt

Paradip port received the highest import volumes of 0.71 mnt, followed by Gangavram at 0.67 mnt. Haldia and Jaigarh ports received 0.61 mnt and 0.59 mnt, respectively. Vizag port recorded a rise of 28% in the month under review.

Outlook

It is anticipated that imports may drop due to rising domestic production and limited material availability. The current coal transaction levels are not feasible for steel producers, as sellers are quoting offers at elevated price levels, creating a wide bid-offer disparity, which is impacting trading activities.