India Imports Oxygen Tankers & Concentrators to Battle Covid-19
14 May 2021

During the second wave, India is facing inadequate beds
and oxygen cylinders. To fight off the battle, the Government of India, on
Tuesday, imported cryogenic tankers. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has allocated
the oxygen imports the most to severely affected states of India. Due to growing
demand of medical equipment in India amid pandemic, India is importing oxygen
concentrators, oxygen cells, high pressure cylinders and oxygen equipment.
India Imports Oxygen
Concentrators (Jan 2020-Mar 2021)
In a recent development in India’s imports of medical
equipment, Indian companies have placed orders for more than 60,000 oxygen
concentrators with Chinese medical equipment manufacturers to meet the shortage
of medical oxygen in India. India also faced shortage of oxygen concentrators
last year when pandemic started spreading in many areas. As per India import
statistics, India’s imports of oxygen concentrators shot up in 2nd
and 3rd quarter of 2020. Below given chart shows value in percentile
of India imports oxygen concentrators between Jan 2020 and Mar 2021.
Quarter |
Value USD % |
Jan-Mar 2020 |
9.4 |
Apr-Jun 2020 |
42 |
Jul-Sep 2020 |
61.8 |
Oct-Dec 2020 |
17.6 |
Jan-Mar 2021 |
1.7 |
The demand of oxygen cells also rose in 1st
quarter of 2021. According to India import data of oxygen cells, India imports
of oxygen cells rose to 84.9% in January 2021 as against 0.49% reported in
January 2020.
India Imports High Pressure Cylinders
(Jan 2020- Mar 2021)
In the beginning of 2020, India experienced first wave
of Covid-19 pandemic when demand of medical equipment gone up. As per India
import data, India’s imports of high-pressure cylinders shared 24% in Q1 of
2020, which increased greatly to 44% in Q1 of 2021. Let’s take a look at value
in percentile of high pressure cylinders into India reported from Jan 2020 to
Mar 2021.
Quarter |
Value USD % |
Jan-Mar 2020 |
24.6 |
Apr-Jun 2020 |
10.2 |
Jul-Sep 2020 |
9.4 |
Oct-Dec 2020 |
11.3 |
Jan-Mar 2021 |
43.8 |
India Imports Oxygen Equipment (Jan
2020- Mar 2021)
As per India trade data of oxygen equipment, the
import value of oxygen equipment saw a fluctuation from Jan 2020 to Mar 2021
due to ups and downs in coronavirus cases. In first quarter of 2020, India
imported 36% worth of oxygen equipment from the world when Covid-19 was
spreading as compared to 8.2% in Q1 of 2021 at the time when coronavirus cases
went down. Here is a chart which shows value in percentile of India imports
oxygen equipment reported from Jan 2020 to Mar 2021.
Quarter |
Value USD % |
Jan-Mar 2020 |
36.1 |
Apr-Jun 2020 |
13.9 |
Jul-Sep 2020 |
39.1 |
Oct-Dec 2020 |
18.3 |
Jan-Mar 2021 |
8.2 |
India’s Top 10 Import Partners of
Medical Oxygen (Jan 2020 to Mar 2021)
India’s top 10 import sources of medical oxygen are
China and the United States. If we look at India import statistics of medical oxygen
reported from Jan 2020 to Mar 2021, China was the leading supplier of medical oxygen
to India. Here are percentage shares of India’s top 10 import partners of
medical oxygen.
Country |
Value USD % |
China |
76.2 |
United States |
10.9 |
Brazil |
1.9 |
Japan |
1.9 |
Italy |
1.7 |
Germany |
1.4 |
Netherlands |
1.1 |
United Kingdom |
0.9 |
Mexico |
0.8 |
Slovakia |
0.6 |
Catalyst To Overcome The Situation
Tata Group has also announced officially through
social media that they are going to import 24 cryogenic tankers to help the
transportation boost of liquid oxygen in the hospitals of the nation.
A part of the Tata Group, Tata Steel announced on
April 18 through social media that it will help India fight the deadly virus
upfront courageously by shipping 200-300 tons of liquid medical oxygen daily to
various state governments and hospitals.
According to sources, Reliance Industries also
uplifted the manufacturing of medical-grade oxygen at its Jamnagar Oil
Refineries, with an objective to produce over 700 tons a day of medical-grade
oxygen. It is being exported free of cost to states badly affected by the
virus.
