India’s coking coal import freight traffic at all major ports totaled 10.70 million mt in the April-June period this year, indicating a decline of 28 percent year on year, data sourced from the Indian Ports Association (IPA) show. This was due to the sharp fall of crude steel production and consumption due to the coronavirus pandemic. In April, India produced 3.14 million mt of crude steel, down sharply by 65.23 percent year on year. Steel production started to recover gradually from May, supported by stronger steel exports.
According to the IPA data, iron ore freight traffic through the main Indian ports, including lumps, fines, and pellets, totaled 15.44 million mt in the April-June period this year, up 18 percent year on year, due to healthy demand for iron ore pellets from China, which rapidly recovered from the impact of Covid-19.