Coal demand from power sector pushes CIL’s coal offtake to its highest-ever in May

• CIL's supply to power sector at nearly 44 MTs in May was up by 41 percent

• Stimulated by increased activity and higher coal consumption, stock at thermal power stations fell by 5 MTs in April from that of 28.9 MTs at the closure of FY21

New Delhi: Spurred by the revival of coal demand from the power sector, Coal India Limited (CIL) has scripted the highest-ever coal off-take of 55 Million Tonnes (MTs) for the month of May, registering a rise of 38 percent over the corresponding month of 2020. "As coal supplies surged ahead to 55 MTs in May, CIL recorded a whopping 15 MT increase in volume terms against comparable month last year, logging close to 38 percent growth. Even compared to pre-Covid May 2019, the growth was 5.8 percent when the company's off-take was 52 MTs," said CIL in an official statement on Tuesday. 
 
With the appetite for coal signalling healthy recovery, CIL's supply to power sector at nearly 44 MTs in May was up by 41 percent. The company supplied around 13 MTs more to power plants compared to May 2020. 

Higher coal consumption reduces stock at thermal power stations

Stimulated by increased activity and higher coal consumption, stock at thermal power plants of the country fell by 5 MTs in the month of April from that of 28.9 MTs at the closure of FY21. However, increased supplies by CIL in May resulted in the coal stock getting restored to 29 MTs at coal fired power plants. In the ensuing months, the company aims to further increase its supplies. 

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"Understandably, due to the Covid-induced lockdown, coal supplies suffered during the last year but even then a robust overall 30 MT offtake upsurge during first two months of the current fiscal is an encouraging sign compared to April-May 2020. During this period coal off-take to power sector was 23.6 MTs more," stated a senior executive of the company. 

CIL began FY22 with 100 MTs stock, reduced it to 74.3 MTs by May-end

CIL's total coal off-take for April-May was 109.2 MTs, clocking a growth of 38 percent compared to 79 MTs in the same period a year ago. Similarly, supply to the power sector, the largest coal consuming sector, also registered 38 percent growth. CIL supplied 86.3 MTs of coal to power during the first two months of the ongoing fiscal compared to 62.7 MTs in the same period a year ago. However, it must be noted that the coal consumption in the April-May period had gone down sharply in the wake of the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19. 

CIL has liquidated 25 MTs of coal out of its inventory during April-May. The company which began FY22 with close to 100 MTs stock at its pitheads reduced it to 74.3 MTs at the end of May. CIL produced 42.1 MTs in May and 84 MTs in April-May period. "CIL is confident of ramping up the production even at short notice when the demand peaks to even higher levels, especially with the coal seams exposed. CIL has recorded the second-highest overburden removal growth of 17 percent, in more than a decade, last year," said the statement.

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