Indian PCI, met coke imports rise in March

Indian pulverised coal injection (PCI) grade imports rose in March as India increased its shipments from Australia prior to their Covid-19 lockdown later in the month, while metallurgical coke imports also increased.

India imported 1.35mn t of PCI in March, an increase of 55pc from 868,989t a month earlier, according to data from e-commerce firm Mjunction. PCI imports from main supplier Australia in March rose by 130pc from a month earlier to 910,859t. But shipments from Russia fell by 6pc to 423,448t in March from 450,280t in February.

India's met coke imports in March were 232,179t, an increase of 138pc from 97,701t a month earlier. The largest coke import source was from Poland with 135,152t in March, the highest level since May 2018. Other met coke exporters to India in March were Colombia with 61,187t and China with 1,278t.

India imported 4mn t of coking coal in March, a drop of 0.6pc from 4.02mn t in February. Shipments from top supplier Australia rose marginally by 0.5pc to 2.98mn t in March from a month earlier. But arrivals from the US fell by 40pc to 246,327t in March from 410,696t a month ago, while imports from Mozambique also fell by 21pc to 91,054t over the same period. India also imported 408,567t of coking coal from Canada, 154,340t from Indonesia and 123,256t from Russia in March.

The Argus spot price assessment for premium low-volatile hard coking coal averaged $159.89/t fob Australia in March, up by 3pc from the February average of $154.78/t fob.

By Dylan Wong