中文
India's power generators' thermal coal imports saw a third straight month-on-month surge in October, reaching the highest level since at least January 2018, according to official data.
Power producers imported 7.50 million tonnes of thermal coal in October, soaring 65.17% from 4.54 million tonnes in the same month last year and 34.27% from 5.58 million tonnes in September, showed data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
With growing coal demand in the power sector, the local government has extended the guidance for all imported coal-based power plants to run at full capacity till June 2024, from the previous October 2023, and asked them to blend more imported coal from 4% to 6% in the fuel mix, contributing to the record high in coal imports of power companies over October.
Among all imported by power companies last month, 4.63 million tonnes were directly burned, surging 177.28% year on year and rising 18.98% month on month, and 2.87 million tonnes were blended with domestic coal, dipping 0.07% on the year but jumping 69.45% from a month ago.
Among power utilities blending imported coal with the domestic resources, 9 state-owned power enterprises imported 1.33 million tonnes and 11 private enterprises imported 1.54 million tonnes; among those directing burning imported coal for power generation, one state-run company purchased 64,800 tonnes and 14 private ones receipted 4.57 million tonnes.
In October, Mundra of Adani Group imported most thermal coal, at 1.55 million tonnes, followed by Mundra of Tata Power Group, at 988,700 tonnes.
In the first seven months of this fiscal (April-October 2023), Indian power companies imported 35.28 million tonnes of thermal coal, down 9.17% from 38.84 million tonnes a year ago. About 21.71 million tonnes were directly burned during this period, and 13.57 million tonnes were blended with domestic supplies.
As coal consumption continues to increase, the country's coal demand for power generation is predicted to rise to 424 million tonnes in the second half of the current fiscal, higher than the projection before of 404 million tonnes, industry sources said.
Electricity output at coal-fired power utilities is expected to reach 657 TWh during the given period, also higher than the previous anticipation of 619 TWh.
(Writing by Riley Liang Editing by Emma Yang)
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