NEW DELHI: Coal shipments to India, the world's fourth-biggest importer of the fuel, rose 9.6 percent to 9.65 million tonnes in February from a year earlier, provisional data from government sources showed, as thermal coal imports nearly doubled.
Domestic production of coal, which fuels more than half of India's power generation, has lagged capacity growth in the power sector, where energy production falls far short of the demands of a fast-growing economy and an increasingly affluent population.
However, soaring coal imports are adding to pressure on the country's current account deficit, which widened to a record high in the December quarter.
Thermal coal imports were 7.0 million tonnes in February, while coking coal imports were 2.16 million tonnes, the data obtained by Reuters showed on Monday, as supply lagged demand in the energy-hungry nation.
In value terms, February coal shipments to the world's third-largest coal producer after China and the United States were worth 51.75 billion rupees ($952 million).
Indonesia maintained its top slot as the No. 1 coal exporter into India, accounting for more than half of the shipments in February, followed by Australia.
India imported 122.62 million tonnes of coal between April and February, up 27.3 percent from a year earlier, the figures showed. The cumulative imports were worth about 777 billion rupees ($14.30 billion).
Thermal or steam coal, the fuel mainly used by power producers, accounted for 72.5 percent of India's coal shipments in February.
The coal ministry expects India to produce 574.4 million tonnes of coal in the 2012-13 fiscal year that just ended, 6.4 percent up from a year earlier. But that is expected to be 192 million tonnes shy of galloping demand in Asia's third-largest economy.
On a calorific-value adjusted basis, given the higher grade of imported coal, the shortfall translates into roughly 130 million tonnes.
Total thermal coal imports in 2012-13 are seen at around 110 million tonnes, trade sources said in January.
In 2011-12, India imported about 103 million tonnes of thermal and coking coal, a nearly 50 percent jump from a year earlier.
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