We constructed a procurement portfolio for the Indian power sector using two variants of the dynamic conditional correlation GARCH model to derive time-varying correlations between major coal indices. We used prices and qualities of observed cargos to adjust indices for quality gaps as well as for freight costs and power plant efficiency factors. Using the relative homogeneity of the energy content of imports from Australia, South Africa, and Indonesia, we found that the regional seaborne market is highly correlated during normal economic conditions, while suffering brief departures in correlation during demand and supply shocks. Our results show that the buying behavior of power producers is aligned with the mean-variance efficient portfolio of delivered prices using time-varying correlation estimates, but not free-on-board coal index prices. This study challenges the notion that thermal coal importers only source material with a freight price advantage and highlights the importance of coal quality gaps in power production.