seven new 4 000 megawatt plants

India seeks 20m tons of African coal
Johannesburg - Indian power companies might buy as much as 20 million tons of coal from South Africa and Mozambique from 2009, as new plants opened on the Asian country's coast, power distribution system designer Osho Energy said yesterday.
Osho's South African unit had written requests from Indian buyers seeking that quantity of coal, said director Tushar Agrawal.

India is building as many as seven 4 000 megawatt plants, each requiring up to 12 million tons of coal a year, after the economy grew at an 8 percent pace over the past three years.

The country's coal imports probably rose 12 percent to 46.62 million tons in the year to March, according to mines ministry estimates. It uses coal to fuel half its 128 000MW of generating capacity.

Osho will not compete with European buyers for southern Africa's best grades of coal, focusing instead on lower-quality production from smaller producers. Like Tata Power, Osho and its customers might buy stakes of between 5 percent and 20 percent in mines where they sourced coal, Agrawal said.

Osho had already held talks with "small-scale" mining companies in South Africa and Mozambique, he added, without giving details. (Bloomberg)

Business Report - 17-May-07