India’s thermal coal imports in May rose 18.9 per cent from a year ago but the pace of growth was the slowest this year due to modest demand ahead of the monsoon season. Data from government sources showed that India, which relies on coal to fuel more than half of its power generation, struggles with frequent power cuts due to insufficient supplies of coal and gas which hinders economic growth and forces the nation to seek costly imports.    

Provisional data showed that thermal coal shipments to the world’s fourth largest coal importer rose to 9.76 million tonne in May. Demand for the power station fuel typically jumps during the hot summer months of April and May on higher electricity usage.    

Traders said that however, showers ahead of the June-September monsoon season and sluggish economic growth kept the demand for the fuel under check in May. We saw some stocking up in March and April, prior to the monsoon season. But the pace started reducing from May and this will continue till September.