Thermal Coal Imports of country fell 15.3% to 12.6 mn tonnes in Feb

According to ship monitoring data, India's imports of thermal coal, which is primarily used in power generation, decreased for the sixth consecutive month in February as coal-fired power output expanded slowly due to a slowdown in manufacturing.

Since February 2022, when imports fell for eight months in a row, this is the longest such run. According to data from Indian consultancy Bigmint, India, the world's second-largest importer, had a 15.3% decline in thermal coal imports in February, reaching 12.16 million metric tons.

To 77.3 million, imports decreased 20% in the six months that concluded on February 28. With the nation's coal-fired power generation remaining relatively unchanged in the first two months of the year, growing domestic production and a larger proportion of renewable energy, in addition to the manufacturing slowdown, also helped to reduce imports.

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As utilities get ready to handle a spike in electricity demand during the summer months of April to June, coal consumption is predicted to increase in the upcoming months. However, as local output is also rising, this may not necessarily increase imports.

After falling to multi-year lows in 2025 due to market concerns about declining global demand, thermal coal prices have somewhat recovered in recent weeks. They are still trading more than 30% above their levels from the second half of the previous decade, though.

Although analysts and industry officials have warned of possible risks in the coming months, a continuous decrease in Indian thermal coal imports coincides with an increase in shipments bought by top importer China.

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