New Delhi: Amid the coronavirus pandemic, thermal coal imports at India’s major ports saw a 35.94 per cent decline to 12.29 million tonne (MT) in the first two months of the current financial year. This information was given by the Indian Ports’ Association (IPA). Coking coal imports witnessed a dip of 24.05 per cent to 7.47 MT in April and May this year. The ports had handled 19.19 MT of thermal coal and 9.84 MT of coking coal, respectively, in the April-May period of the previous financial year.
The IPA, which maintains cargo data handled by these ports, in its latest report said ‘percentage variation from the previous year’ in thermal coal handling was at 35.94 per cent and 24.05 per cent in coking coal.
Thermal coal is the mainstay of India’s energy programme as 70 per cent of power generation is dependent on the dry fuel, while coking coal is used mainly for steel making.
India is the third-largest producer of coal after China and the United States (US) and has 299 billion tonne of resources and 123 billion tonne of proven reserves, which may last for over 100 years.
India has 12 major ports. They are Kandla, Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (Ennore), V.O. Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia). These ports handle about 61 per cent of the India’s total cargo traffic. The 12 ports had handled 705MT of cargo in the last financial year.
These ports, where operations have been hit due to the coronavirus pandemic, recorded a 22 per cent decline in cargo handling to 92.82 MT during the first two months of the current financial year. These ports had together handled 119.23 MT of cargo during April-May period of 2018-19.
Ports like Chennai, Cochin and Kamarajar saw their cargo volumes nosedive over 40 per cent, while Kolkata and JNPT suffered a drop of over 30 per cent during April-May.