India is expected to import up to 185 million tonnes of thermal coal in 2019, the head of thermal coal at consultancy Wood Mackenzie said on Tuesday, about 13 percent higher than its estimate for 2018.
India’s coal imports from Australia and Colombia will increase in the long run as demand for high-energy coal grows due to environmental reasons, Dale Hazelton said at the India Coal Conference in New Delhi.
Coal is among the top five commodities imported by India, one of the world’s largest consumers of coal, and its imports of the dirty fuel rose in 2018 after two consecutive years of decline.
WoodMac previously said India’s thermal coal imports grew at their fastest pace since 2014 to 164 million tonnes in 2018.
