New Delhi: Sustaining its production pace, Coal India Limited (CIL) produced 52.3 million tonnes (MTs) of coal in August 2023 registering a strong 13.2 per cent over 46.2 MTs of August 2022. Comparative production for the month surged ahead by 6.1 MTs.
Staying on course with the annual asking growth of 11 per cent, till August FY 2024, the state owned coal miner produced 281.5 MTs posting 11.1 per cent year-on-year growth. The volume expansion in production was 28.2 MTs during the first five months of FY 2024 compared to 253.3 MTs during the same period FY 2023.
Total coal supplies to all consuming sectors shot up to 59 MTs in August 2023 reflecting a strong double digit growth of 15.3 per cent compared to 51.2 MTs of same month last fiscal. Supplies were up nearly 8 MTs in a single month.
During April-August 2023 total coal off-take rose to 305.5 MTs with around 8 per cent growth with a 22.4 MT gain over same period last year, when the off-take was 283.1 MTs.
CIL continued to pump higher quantities of coal to non-power sector (NPS) as supplies to them recorded a robust 61 per cent growth at12.1 MTs in August 2023. This was a jump of 4.6 MTs compared to 7.5 MTs in August 2023.
Progressive till August FY 2024 supplies to NPS grew by 43.4 per cent to 56.8 MTs. This represents an increase of 17.2 MTs in the first five month period of FY 2024 compared to 39.6 MTs of same period previous fiscal. Not only CIL is meeting the strong demand of NPS currently, the company is also liquidating the backlog.
CIL’s supplies to power sector at nearly 47 MTs increased by 3.4 MTs in August 2023. The growth was nearly 8 per cent compared to 43.6 MTs of same month last year.
CIL’s supplies to power sector during August 2023 were higher than committed quantity. Against the commitment of 1.44 MTs per day the company supplied 1.515 MTs per day.
During April-August 2023, the coal fired plants of the country received 248.7 MTs of coal from CIL sources posting a 2 per cent comparative growth. Supplies to power sector were 243.5 MTs in April-August 2023.
Coal inventory at CIL’s pitheads stood at a comfortable 45.3 MTs as of 31 August, higher by 46 per cent compared to 31 MTs of coal stock same date last year.
This helps in meeting any sudden demand upsurge from power sector.