New Delhi: Spurred by increased appetite for coal from non-power sector, Coal India's (CIL) overall off-take went up by 8 percent during November compared to the same month a year ago. Supply to non-power sector was up by a robust 46 percent during the month. CIL's off-take stood at 51.3 Million Tonnes (MTs) in November of the ongoing fiscal, an increase of 3.8 MTs compared to 47.5 MTs in the same month last year. Sectors other than power accounted for the entire increase.
Coal production at 51.7 MTs during November clocked a growth of 3.3 percent, with 1.7 MTs uptick in absolute terms. CIL produced 50 MTs in November 2019. MCL with 19.7 percent growth and CCL with 10.3 percent growth were ahead of other subsidiaries of CIL.
With non-power consumers showing a tendency to lift more coal, CIL's supply to this sector has risen to 12.3 MTs in November, logging a growth of 46 percent compared to 8.4 MTs in November 2019. Non-power sector's lifting accounted for 24 percent of the month's total despatch. This sector predominantly consists of cement, sponge iron, captive power plants and a host of other industries. Progressive up to November, the growth in supplies to non-power sector was 14 percent at 80.6 MTs.
"We are reorienting our marketing plans. With the demand from power sector yet to boom fully we are concentrating our efforts on non-power consumers to expand our sales volume. Till there is demand resurgence from power sector we shall follow this, which is helping us," said a senior executive of the company.
At least 83 power plants have regulated lifting of coal in November. Of this, 26 have considerably reduced their programme placed for rakes against their entitlement. The remaining 57 have not filed their programme for rakes which led to demand stagnation during the month.
The power sector of the country is stocked with 37.4 MTs of coal at their end sufficient for 22 days. With CIL riding high on 53.5 MTs pithead stock a combined stock of 91 MTs is available in the system, sufficient to meet any demand surge. After a spurt of 14 percent in October, supply to power sector has come down to a flat growth in November at 39.1 MTs due to weakened demand.
Average loading per day to non-power sector during the month marked a steep 59 percent growth at 40 rakes per day against 25 rakes in the same month last year. Total rake loading went up by 20 percent as CIL loaded 264 rakes per day in the current fiscal's November against 220 rakes in November 2019.
(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Telegram. Join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram and stay updated)