Coal imports in the country declined by 19.2 per cent to 16.38 million tones (MT) in May, compared to 20.29 MT in the same month last year, on the back of sufficient availability of domestic fuel. As per data available with mjunction, India's largest eCommerce online procurement and sales platform jointly floated by SAIL and Tata Steel, in April, there was a 50% decline in coal imports by domestic coal based power plants which use imported coal for blending purposes .The coal import by these plants stood at only 2.30 MT in April this year as compared to 4.56 MT imported in the same month of 2015.
In addition the import of non-coking coal was lower as most of the domestic coal-based power plants, particularly PSU power plants, had cut down significantly on their use of imported coal due to ample availability of domestic coal. Record coal production by CIL led to a reduction in import by 34.26 MT. Results in a saving of Rs 28,070 crore in foreign exchange during 2015-16.
However, coal imports by imported coal-based power plants during the month stood at 3.83 MT, up 3 percent. Also, the Pet coke import in April was up 12.79 percent compared with the corresponding month of previous year.