NEW DELHI: Dispelling fears of shortages of coal during the monsoon, Coal India (CIL) said stock currently available with the power plants is close to 30 million tonnes (MTs), including imported coal.
This is substantially higher than 12.8 MTs of coal stock in August 2021, when the stock plummeted by 11.2 MTs in a month.
India’s largest coal producer supplied nearly 243.3 MTs of coal to the power sector during April-August 2022 quarter, 18.6% more compared to the same period last year. It supplied 205.2 MTs for the same period last year. “CIL’s supplies to the sector at 243.3 million tonnes (MTs) achieved 108% of annual action plan (AAP) target of 225.4 MTs, progressive till August FY 2022-23. Supplies overshot the target by nearly18 MTs,” said CIL in a statement.
The miner added that it had supplied 43.8 MTs of coal to thermal power plants, posting a 16% growth against last year’s 37.8 MTs. The improved supplies from CIL helped stock stabilise at plants. Also, the stock available (till August 2022) with CIL is at a six-year high, barring 2020 when the pandemic fuelled slowdown saw the stock at 37.7 MTs.
CIL breached its AAP target of 276 MTs for total off-take achieving 102.5%. “Producing 253.3 MTs of coal during April-August 2022, CIL logged a double-digit year-on-year growth of 21%. This is a 44.1 MT rise in absolute terms against 209.2 MTs for the same period last year,” said the miner. This level of increase, CIL said, was achieved despite increased downpour across areas of WCL (Western Coalfield Limited) and MCL (Mahanadi Coalfields Limited).
Giving the breakup of its coal stock, CIL said it has 31 MTs at its pitheads, nearly 30 MT stock at plants and a little over 10 MTs at CIL’s sidings, goods sheds, private washeries, ports, and captive plants there is sufficient availability of coal in the system.