India's thermal coal intake from Russia hits 2-year high; flexible pricing, fuel quality boost volumes
This is an AI-generated image, used for representational purposes only.
India's thermal coal imports from Russia surged 52 per cent in May 2025 over April, touching a two-year high of 1.3 million metric tonnes.
This marks the first time since June 2023 that Russian monthly shipments to India crossed the 1-million-tonne mark, business daily Kommersant reported, citing data from the Russian Centre for Price Indices (CCI).
Analysts cited by Kommersant say that Russian exporters leveraged competitive pricing strategies and offered higher-grade coal, making it a favourable alternative to Indonesian supplies.
'In India, the monsoon season began earlier this year, which means hydropower generation will put pressure on thermal generation and coal consumption,' said Evgeny Grachev, director of the RF Centre for Price Indices (CCI), according to news agency PTI.
India's total thermal coal imports in May rose 10 per cent month-on-month to 17.4 million tonnes, the highest since June 2024, according to BigMint data cited in the Russian daily.
Russia accounted for 7.5 per cent of India's coal imports, while Indonesia remained the top supplier with 9.8 million tonnes, up 16 per cent from April. Imports from South Africa held steady at 3.4 million tonnes, while those from the US jumped 43 per cent to 2 million tonnes.
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Thị trường có dấu hiệu suy thoái không?
IC Markets
Đăng ký
Undo
Nariman Taiketayev of National Credit Ratings (NCR) said that Indian buyers are increasingly favouring high-calorific-value Russian coal due to its quality and cost competitiveness. However, a stronger rouble and geopolitical uncertainties, including tensions in the Gulf during the 12-day Israel-Iran war, could hinder Russian exporters, he cautioned.
Despite this temporary spike in Russian coal, experts say a substantial rise in its long-term market share is unlikely, due to India's growing domestic coal production and expensive logistics involved in importing Russian coal.
As per PTI, India's coal import dropped by 7.9 per cent to 243.62 million tonnes in FY25, saving $7.93 billion in foreign exchange. The sharpest drop came from thermal power plants, where blending-related imports fell by over 41 per cent, highlighting India's pivot toward energy self-reliance.
In April 2025 alone, India imported 24.95 million tonnes of coal, a 4.4 per cent year-on-year decline, as per mjunction data.
This coincided with a 3.6 per cent rise in domestic coal output to 81.57 million tonnes.
Coal India Ltd, which accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic production, aims to increase output to 875 million tonnes in FY26.
Despite this push for domestic supply, industry experts acknowledge that imports of high-grade thermal and coking coal will remain essential, especially for power, steel and cement sectors that depend on consistent quality and supply.
Stay informed with the latest
business
news, updates on
bank holidays
and
public holidays
.
AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
30 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Airtel trails Jio in net user additions, Vi loses more
Reliance Jio far outpaced Bharti Airtel on net subscriber additions in May, while state-run BSNL and cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (Vi) continued to lose subscribers, showed data issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday. Jio added 2.7 million net subscribers in May, while Airtel added 275,621 wireless subscribers, Trai data showed. In the same period, Vi lost 274,103 subscribers while BSNL's user base fell by 1.35 overall wireless subscribers increased by 2.09 million in May, including 242,152 in rural areas. Total user base stood at 1.16 billion as of May-end. Jio closed the month with a wireless user base of 475 million, followed by Airtel at 390 million, and Vodfone Idea at 204 million. BSNL's wireless user base stood at 90 million. Trai data also showed a fall in 5G fixed-wireless access users to 7.4 million as of May 31, from 7.5 million in April, led by a reclassification of users of FWA-UBR (fixed wireless access unlicensed band radio) as fixed wireline customers. As a result, Jio reported a loss of 286,331 customers in the 5G FWA category, but actually gained 1.03 million customers, as per the reclassified data. Airtel reported a gain of 182,458 5G FWA users. Despite the loss in users, Reliance Jio continued leading the growing 5G FWA segment with 5.85 million, while Bharti Airtel had 1.54 million users as of May 31, Trai data showed. Jio led the market in terms of wireless broadband subscribers with 480.96 million users, with Airtel the second-largest at 292.89 million, followed by Vi at 126.67 terms of active subscribers, both Reliance Jio and Airtel reported a rise in May, while Vi and BSNL saw a decline in subscribers who were active on the date of peak VLR (visitor location register) in May. Reliance Jio had the highest number of active subscribers as against its total wireless subscriber base, at 462 million (97.25% of its total subscribers), followed by Airtel with 386.84 million (99.13% of total subscribers). Vi's active user base fell to 172.87 million (84.56%), and BSNL had the lowest proportion of active subscribers at 57.85 million (63.73%). Active, or visitor location register (VLR) data, put out by Trai every month, indicates the number of mobile users regularly using a mobile network. As of May, Jio continued to lead the Indian market for wireless services with a 40.92% market share, followed by Airtel at 33.61%, Vi at 17.61%, and BSNL at 7.82%. May saw 14.03 million requests for mobile-number portability, increasing the cumulative requests to 1.14 billion in May, since MNP was implemented.
Time of India
44 minutes ago
- Time of India
Trump dismisses reports US is weighing up to $30 billion civilian nuclear deal for Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed media reports that said his administration had discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program. CNN reported on Thursday and NBC News reported on Friday that the Trump administration in recent days had explored possible economic incentives for Iran in return for its government halting uranium enrichment. The reports cited sources. CNN cited officials as saying that several proposals were floated and were preliminary. "Who in the Fake News Media is the SleazeBag saying that 'President Trump wants to give Iran $30 Billion to build non-military Nuclear facilities.' Never heard of this ridiculous idea," Trump wrote on Truth Social late on Friday, calling the reports a "HOAX." Since April, Iran and the U.S. have held indirect talks aimed at finding a new diplomatic solution regarding Iran's nuclear program. Tehran says its program is peaceful and Washington says it wants to ensure Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon. Live Events Trump, earlier this week, announced a ceasefire between U.S. ally Israel and its regional rival Iran to halt a war that began on June 13 when Israel attacked Iran. The Israel-Iran conflict had raised alarms in a region already on edge since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023. The U.S. struck Iran's nuclear sites over the last weekend and Iran targeted a U.S. base in Qatar on Monday in retaliation, before Trump announced the ceasefire. Israel is the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons and said its war against Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons. Iran is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while Israel is not. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, has said it has "no credible indication" of an active, coordinated weapons programme in Iran.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Daily Briefing: Trump hints at ‘opening up India' with trade deal; L K Advani's prison notebook; Maa movie review
Good morning, Remember that cup of your favourite tea, served with some biscuits or wafers, and that tempting whiff of cakes getting baked in your neighbourhood, on a cloudy morning? Well, that's what the mood is like among the cricket club members in Yorkshire, England's deeply traditional county. With about 800 clubs and over 125,000 recreational players, just like at home, tea here is never taken light or lightly. The 'Cricket Yorkshire Tea of the Year' competition is back, with participants gearing up to send pictures of their mouth-watering tea spreads to the organisers. Word of mouth appreciation and some field trips during tea time shall decide the winner. The contest is expected to get spicier in the coming years with a few Indian clubs. With that, let's move on to the top 5 stories from today's edition: 🚨 Big Story Indian trade negotiators landed in the United States on Friday for in-person talks before the July 9 deadline for the reciprocal tariff pause runs out. American President Donald Trump said that the US and India 'may' sign a trade deal under which the country would 'open up.' The roadblock to a trade deal comes as the US has flagged several non-tariff barriers and high duties in India; however, it has yet to commit to several Indian demands. As the negotiations between India and the US for an interim trade deal enter their final phase, India's oil imports from the US jumped over 270 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of 2025. This jump underscores Delhi's strategy of enhancing American imports amid trade pact negotiations and diversifying its sources of crude oil in a volatile geopolitical and geo-economic environment. India is attempting to step up imports from the US across categories to address America's key concern of a widening goods trade deficit. ⚡ Only in Express The Emergency, 50 years on: Meenakshi Datta Ghosh was the youngest of the five ADMs posted in the national capital when the Emergency was imposed, only to find herself witnessing the Ramlila Maidan rally that preceded, and maybe even hastening the Indira Gandhi government's crackdown. The silence on the Delhi streets was heavy, laced with fear and dread, carving a perfect sight for Ghosh to see how the levers of power were oiled and wills were bent. 'The issue was do I comply with the law, or follow the political cum bureaucratic commands? Do I preserve process and procedure, or do I enable power?… I feel that the Emergency prepared me to overcome everything that came my way,' Ghosh recalls. From the prison diaries: Detained without trial for months in Bangalore Central jail, Lal Krishna Advani maintained a prison notebook. On December 28, 1975, when Emergency was in full swing, the then Jana Sangh leader wrote that PM Indira Gandhi wanted the Constitution to be changed after a public debate, but questioned her intentions, and countered her claim that the Opposition was in favour of an 'inflexible Constitution'. 'It is the democratic content of the Constitution which the present Establishment regards as a roadblock to its ambitions,' the Jana Sangh leader wrote. Read Advani's full entry here. 💡 Express Explained Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk launched its blockbuster weight-loss injectable semaglutide earlier this week, months after its competitor Eli Lilly's tirzepatide hit Indian markets — and nearly four years after these GLP-1 therapies took the United States by storm. These drugs are highly effective for weight loss, helping people lose 15% to 20% of their body weight. So, how do these 'miracle drugs' work? How were they discovered? And what are the other benefits of these drugs? We explain. ✍️ Express Opinion In our Opinion section today, Kanti Bajpai delves into the three major issues arising from American strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, and the possibility of a nuclear deal. He writes: 'The conditions are ripe, therefore, for a new nuclear deal. That said, the ceasefire must hold, and Iran must have an authority figure that can deliver a deal. Neither is certain. In addition, the US may have to sweeten the deal economically by lifting sanctions. This will depend on Trump overcoming domestic and Israeli opposition. In short, there is a road ahead, but it is a rocky one.' 🍿 Movie Review Wondering what to watch this weekend? We've got you covered! Kajor-starrer 'Maa' has hit your nearby screens this Friday, presenting the story of a mother who would go to any lengths to save her family. Shubhra Gupta, in her review, writes: 'Mixing mythology and technology, 'Maa' presents Kajol as a contemporary woman fighting with all her might to keep at bay the dark forces targeting her young daughter… This is a film which is clearly well-intentioned. Smashing patriarchy is a task that films need to keep taking up, and Kajol has the heft to get the job done.' That's all for today. Have a lovely weekend! Until next time, Ariba
