India, the world’s second-largest coal importer, is set to see a rise in shipments of the fuel as domestic production lags behind demand, Benjamin Sporton, Chief Executive at the World Coal Association said.

State-run Coal India Ltd., which produces more than 80 per cent of India’s coal, is failing to meet production targets, creating a gap that will be met through imports, Sporton said in New Delhi last week.

With Coal India prioritising availability of thermal coal to the power plants by streamlining its road and rail supply networks, its plans of acquiring a 20-25 per cent stake in an Australian firm, which could have ensured steady procurement of coking coal, has been put on the back burner.

Apart from stepping up production, another top priority for the company at present is coordinating with railways to make 288 rakes available each day for supply of the fuel to power plants.

Coal India will supply 513 million tonnes of coal and offer 12 million tonnes more via e-auction to the power sector in 2018-19 (FY19). The remaining 90 million tonnes of the sector’s demand will come from Singareni Collieries and captive coal blocks, Coal India executives said.

After facing a deficit in the last quarter, the power ministry has asked Coal India and Indian Railways to ensure a supply of 615 million tonnes annually, with 288 rakes moving every day.

KOLKATA: Coal India is trailing global peers in operating performance and technology adoption, while taxes and freight constitute 25% and 34%, respectively, of the cost consumers pay, undermining the monopoly's competitiveness, the company's Vision 2030 document said.

KOLKATA: Renewable energy will start replacing coal-fired power as solar tariffs are poised to fall below Rs 2 per unit in seven years and storage costs fall, while cheaper international supply can lead to imports of 20 million tonnes, posing a big challenge to domestic suppliers, a document issued by Coal India says.

Kolkata: Coal India Ltd supplied 371.8 million tonnes of coal to the power sector in the last 10 months ending January, up 6.8% from the corresponding period last year, a senior company official said.

The state-owned miner also supplied 103.1 million tonnes of coal to the non-power sector in the April-January period of the current fiscal, registering a growth of 8.8% over the corresponding period last year.

New Delhi: Coal India Ltd’s sales rose to a record in January as customers of the world’s biggest producer of the fuel continued to refill their inventories.

The miner, which accounts for more than 80% of India’s coal production, has increased output year-on-year every month since August, helping power plants, its biggest customers, replenish their inventories.

Global coal prices have been on a steady rise in the last few months, increasing cost pressure for thermal power producers in the country. This is happening as they struggle with lower offtake for the power they generate.

The price of 4,200 kcal/kg grade coal, which is a very popular grade bought by both India and China, has surged 33% to $49.25 per tonne as of Friday, compared with the start of 2017 when it was assessed at $37 per tonne, Platts data shows.

Coal India's board has empowered subsidiaries to fix their own floor prices for e-auctions, which is expected to help the monopoly get higher rates.

The ministry of coal would allot 11 coal mines to state-owned Coal India Limited, which will add 225 million tonnes to the annual production capacity of the company by 2022.

CIL has set a target to produce 1 billion tonne coal by March 2020. In the last fiscal, Coal India’s production stood at 554 million tonnes.

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