CIL's coal supply to power sector drops by 21.7% in April-June quarter

The supply of coal by state-owned Coal India Ltd to the power sector fell 21.7 per cent to 93.5 million tonnes (MT) in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) had supplied 119.5 MT of dry-fuel in the April-June period of the previous fiscal, according to a latest report by the Coal Ministry.

The coal dispatch by the Maharatna firm last month also dropped by 19 per cent to 30.94 MT, from over 38.14 MT of dry fuel in June last fiscal.

The fuel dispatch by Singareni Collieries Co Ltd (SCCL) during April-June period also fell 48 per cent to 7.28 MT, from over 13.99 MT supplied in the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

In June, the supply fell by half to 2.27 MT, from over 4.60 MT in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal.

Coal India (CIL), had last week said the situation will remain uncertain in July-September quarter, as some states are resorting to fresh lockdown amid rise in Covid-19 cases. Coal production in some of the major mines is still affected due to high coal stock and less offtake, it had said.

The state-owned miner produced 18.05 million tonnes of coal from July 1 to July 16, as against 19.61 MT produced in the same period last year.

Pithead stock of CIL as on July 16 stood at 72.88 MT, as compared to 33.17 MT during the year-ago period, it said.

Due to continuing lockdown and various guidelines issued by centre and state governments, normalcy has not been restored yet, affecting coal production and despatch, Coal India had said.

Despatch of coal was adversely affected in the last week of March resulting into mounting coal stock at pithead. Coal stock as on March 31 was 74.629 MT, compared to 54.155 MT on March 31, 2019.

Restriction imposed on movement of vehicles badly affected supply of explosives in the mines.

Coal India had produced 121.01 MT of coal during April 1-June 30, compared to 136.94 MT during the same period last year.