Imports continue to play a crucial role. Though in real terms it may not be much, imports seems to have brought an attitudinal change in the minds of the public sector coal companies. The domestic coal market is in the process of shifting from a sellers market to a buyers market, said an executive from a user industry. They are for the first time soliciting business by offering credit period of upto one month, he added.

Despite the special import duty of four per cent levied in the recent budget (which takes the totalcustoms duty on coal to 16 per cent) and depreciation in the value of rupee, imported coal continues to be attractive to consumers, especially those along the coast.

High calorific value of up to 6500 per kilo calories compared to a maximum of 3500 to 4000 per kilo calories in the case of Indian coal, lower ash and moisture content to a large extent offset the freight cost.

The international prices also continue to be rangebound while ocean freight is at its nadir.

Interestingly, domestic companies say that lead time for imports is much less than buying from domestic manufacturers.

The Indonesian coal is in the port within 10 days of ordering while it takes as much as a month for procuring coal locally, industry sources say.Domestic coal continues to be tapped by power producers such as electricity boards, steel and cement plants lying far away from the ports.

In April the country produced 21.95 million tonnes compared to 22.02 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal,registering a marginal decline of 0.03 per cent.