NEW DELHI: In a bid to ease the deteriorating coal situation in the country, Coal India (CIL) on Friday floated two international tenders to import 6 million tonnes (MT) of coal in the next one year. This comes days after CIL issued to import 2.42 MT of coal for July-September delivery.
“The bids are for 5,000 GAR (gross as received) quality of thermal grade coal,” said a CIL statement. The company further said these two medium-term tenders 6 MT coal have an option of increasing the bid quantity by 100% to 12 MTs. The tenure for placement of the order is for a period of one year beginning July of the ongoing fiscal year till June 2023. The minimum indent quantity will be 50,000 tonnes, said the company.
The government has directed India’s largest coal producer to import coal from abroad to meet the soaring demand. According to the Central Electricity Authority’s daily coal report released on June 9, coal stocks at 96 out of 173 thermal power plants are at critical levels. The maximum power demand on June 9, 2022, touched a new record of 210.793 GW, with the peak shortage registering at 578 MW.
This is for the first time, that the miner has floated two back-to-back tender, on behalf of state power generating companies (gencos) and independent power plants (IPPs), to import coal. “For the 6 MT coal sought through competitive bids 9 destination ports have been identified for the discharge of coal, 3 MT each at the eastern and western coasts of the country,” CIL said.
The estimated value of the work is pegged at Rs 3,850 crore for each tranche of 3 MT. Meanwhile, the coal ministry came up with its action plan for this fiscal, in which it mentioned that the Coking Coal Mission is set to enhance its production from 45 MT in 2020-21 to 140 MT by 2029-30.