Covid impact: ATF consumption down in April for the first time in 12 months

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The second COVID wave sweeping the country has driven down the consumption of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), the fuel for airplanes, in April, which is the first drop in consumption following a steady rise in the past 13 months.

ATF is a product obtained from refining crude petroleum that is made to international specifications to fly aircraft.

Current month With more and more state governments going in for full and partial lockdowns and a decrease in the number of passengers, it is likely that the consumption of ATF will register a further degrowth in the current month.

According to Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell (PPAC), an arm of the petroleum ministry, the consumption of ATF in April 2021 fell to 409,000 tonnes, which is 13.89% down compared to the consumption in March (475,000 tonnes).

April 2020 The demand for ATF had fallen to 55,000 tonnes in April 2020 following the imposition of countrywide lockdown. Since then it was on a steady climb and touched 475,000 tonnes in March 2021.

The demand for ATF for FY21 was recorded at 3,705,000 tonnes.

In fact, the demand in April was lower than that recorded in any of the months in the last quarter of FY21.

Q4 of FY21 In January, February and March, the demand for ATF was recorded at 428,000 tonnes. 442,000 tonnes and 475,000 tonnes respectively.

In April, the demand for ATF fell more markedly compared to both petrol and diesel due to the increasing restrictions on public life with different state governments battling to fight the fast-spreading infection.

Petrol, diesel The consumption of petrol fell to 2,384,000 tonnes in April 2021 compared to 2,740,000 tonnes in March 2021 – a drop by 13%.

The consumption of diesel, the most-used fuel in the country, also fell from 7,224,000 tonnes in March to 6,679,000 tonnes in April – a decline by 7.54% — PPAC data showed.

In April 2020, India went under one of the severest lockdowns that resulted in a dramatic decline in demand for almost all products in the country, sending the entire economy into sharp contractions in Q1 and Q2 in FY21.

Airlines has been one of the worst hit sectors in the lockdown.