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India witnessed a substantial increase in its long-haul shipments of thermal coal from the US in November, reaching 1.40 million tonnes, the highest level in over two years, local media reported, citing the cargo tracking data from Kpler.
The growth was attributed to the US's practice to export its surplus domestic supply, said Alexis Ellender, Kpler's lead major dry bulks analyst.
In 2022, Indonesia was India's largest thermal coal supplier, surpassing Australia and South Africa, while Russia surpassed the US to become the fourth-biggest source.
Indonesia remained the largest thermal coal supplier in November 2023, with a volume of 10.46 million tonnes.
According to Kpler's data, although the country's total import volume of thermal coal for November stood at 17.51 million tonnes, slightly lower than the fifteen-month peak of 18.66 million tonnes recorded in October 2023, it still represented a multi-year high compared to the same month in the previous years.
In terms of coking coal, the US ranked as India's second-largest supplier after Australia as of October 2023, with Russia emerging as the third-largest.
From April to October 2023, Australia maintained the primary provider of coking coal to India, supplying 20.17 million tonnes, a 12% decrease from a year earlier, while shipments from the US experienced a 9% year-on-year increase to 4.97 million tonnes. Russia emerged as the third-largest supplier at 3.46 million tonnes with a drastic growth of 210% on the year.
India's seaborne coal imports reached 23.27 million tonnes in November, slightly lower than the five-month high of 24.37 million tonnes in October 2023 but still showing a year-on-year increase of 6.92 million tonnes, Ellener said.
The country's cumulative seaborne coal shipments from January to November 2023 amounted to 222.43 million tonnes, reflecting a rise of 11.39 million tonnes from the previous year.
Ellender noted that coal imports from other suppliers remained stable or experienced a modest month-on-month decline.
With easing thermal coal imports, domestic coal production saw a seasonal upturn in November, which reached the highest since April at 84.52 million tonnes.
Annual import growth, seasonal domestic supply increase, and reduced power demand due to falling temperatures have facilitated restocking efforts at Indian power plants, Ellender added.
By the end of November, coal stockpiles at major power plants monitored by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had reached 27.09 million tonnes, the highest level since mid-September.
However, it was still lower by 3.85 million tonnes compared to the same period in 2022, representing only 47% of normative stocks. Restocking endeavors are expected to support further seaborne imports.
Kpler anticipates a decline in seaborne coal imports for December on a monthly basis on expectations of climbing domestic supply, but shipments are expected to surpass the levels of the same period last year in December and into the first quarter of 2024.
(Writing by Riley Liang Editing by Emma Yang)
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