Petcoke imports on a rise as coal substitute

Largely due to users like cement companies opting for petcoke as cheaper option instead of coal

The coal ministry has been striving to cut down on the country's coal imports and related import bill. The coal consuming sectors, however, have shifted to imported petcoke usage, adding up to the country's import bill on the petroleum side.

According to data available with the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), the country imported 39.8 per cent more of petcoke in the last financial year. This has also made petcoke the largest contributor to the total petroleum products that the country imported in that period.

"Import of Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) products increased by 17.0 per cent during March 2017