India Set to Pass China as Top Coal Importer

Bloomberg reported that India is burning coal at its fastest pace in 31 years and by 2014 should pass China as the top importer of power station coal.

As quoted in the market news:

‘India is increasingly becoming an important swing factor in the coal markets and exporters will look there for price support as Chinese imports slow,’ said Michael Parker, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. ‘Chinese imports will start to fall as they use more of their own coal.’

As Asia’s second-biggest energy consumer, with an economy expanding 5 percent last year, India used 10.2 percent more coal from a year earlier. That was the sharpest rise since 1981 and reversed three years of slower gains, according to this month’s BP Statistical Review 2013.

Click here to read the full Bloomberg report.