Coal India to meet 2012/13 supply target despite output slip

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Coal India Limited, the world's biggest miner, will miss its production target for 2012/13 by 5-6 million tonnes, but will meet its supply target of 470 million tonnes by drawing down from stocks, its chairman said on Thursday.

The production target is 464 million tonnes for the current fiscal year that ends in March.

The state-run miner, which produces about 80 percent of India's total coal output, has a stockpile of 47 million tonnes as of today, he said, nearly 24 million tonnes lower than its opening stocks at the beginning of this financial year.

(Reporting by Malini Menon; Editing by Jo Winterbottom)