India: Thermal coal port stocks rise by 6% w-o-w

• Agarwal Coal's inventories decline by 9.7%
  
  
• Dhamra, Mundra's stocks up by over 30%
  
  

Thermal coal inventories at Indian ports increased by 6% to 13.93 million tonnes (mnt) in week 1 of CY'25 from 13.13 mnt in week 52 of CY'24, according to BigMint's data.

Company-wise break-up

Adani Enterprise: Stocks rose by 8.5% to 3.86 mnt in week 1 compared to 3.55 mnt in week 52.

Agarwal Coal: Inventories fell by 9.7% to 1.27 mnt from 1.41 mnt.

Port-wise break-up

• Paradip: Inventories remained stable, up marginally by 1.5% to 1.76 mnt in week 1 from 1.74 mnt.
  
  
• Dhamra: Stocks jumped by 39.3% to 1.37 mnt in week 1 from 0.98 mnt.
  
  
• Mundra: Stocks surged by 33.7% to 0.87 mnt from 0.65 mnt.
  
  
• Gangavaram: Inventories also increased substantially, by 88.2% to 0.49 mnt in week 1 from 0.26 mnt.
  
  
• Krishnapatnam: Stocks declined by 20.9% to 0.64 mnt from 0.78 mnt.
  
  
• Vizag: Inventories witnessed a moderate rise of 2.8%, to 0.97 mnt from 0.94 mnt.
  
  
• Mangalore: Stocks fell by 10.5% to 0.77 mnt in week 1 from 0.86 mnt.
  
  
• Haldia: Thermal coal inventories dipped by 9.2% to 0.30 mnt from 0.33 mnt.
  
  

Market overview

India's portside prices of South African thermal coal remained steady w-o-w due to soft demand and ample port stocks. RB2 (5500 NAR) prices stayed at INR 9,250/tonne (t), while RB3 (4800 NAR) tags decreased slightly by INR 100/t w-o-w to INR 7,650/t, both ex-Gangavaram. South African export offers saw marginal decreases w-o-w, with RB2 falling by $0.50/t to $85.50/t FOB and RB3 down by $1/t to $65/t FOB. Although RB3 stocks are limited at some ports, sellers remain hopeful of a demand recovery by late January, though price support and acceptance by sponge producers are uncertain.