India's thermal coal imports continued to decline in February, marking the sixth consecutive month of falling imports.
This trend comes amid slowing manufacturing activity, which has led to muted growth in coal-fired power generation. The decline is the longest since February 2022, when imports dropped for eight straight months.
Manufacturing activity in India, the world's fastest-growing major economy, has slowed to its weakest level in over a year. This has reduced the demand for imported coal and contributed to a decline in global thermal coal prices.
According to data from Indian consultancy Bigmint, India’s thermal coal imports fell by 15.3 pc to 12.16 million metric tonnes in February. Over the past six months, imports dropped by 20 pc to 77.3 million tonnes.
Apart from the slowdown in manufacturing, the increase in domestic coal production and the rising share of renewable energy have also contributed to the reduced reliance on imports. Coal-fired power generation in India remained largely unchanged in the first two months of the year.
Although power consumption is expected to rise in the coming months due to increased electricity demand during the summer, this may not necessarily translate into higher coal imports, as domestic production is also increasing.
Indian coal trading firm I-Energy noted that while demand for coal is likely to remain strong during the summer, non-power sectors are still experiencing sluggish market conditions.
Thermal coal prices, which fell to multi-year lows in early 2025 due to weaker global demand, have slightly rebounded in recent weeks. However, they are still more than 30 pc higher than the levels seen in the latter half of the previous decade.
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