Production and sales of Coal India (CIL) showed signs of improvement by 2.6 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively in May and April respectively. Over the period, growth in topsoil removal increased by 10.4%.
CIL produced 41.43 million tons (MT) of coal in May compared to 40.38 MT in April, with a volume increase of 1.05 MT, an increase of 2.6 per cent.
“Amid subdued demand for coal, in what would be an encouraging sign for CIL, coal off-take was up at 39.95 MT in May compared to 39.06 MT in April. Coal sales have expanded by 0.9 MT in quantity terms in May,” a CIL statement said.
Growth in the non-power sector improved by 37.3 per cent in May compared to April. Throughout May, CIL supplies to non-powered consumers amounted to 9.76 MT compared to 7.11 MT in April, an rise of 2.65 MT.
Growth in top soil removal in May was 21 per cent higher than in April at 124.59 million cubic meters (MCuM) compared to a year earlier, when CIL set aside an additional quantity of 21.52 MCuM extraneous matter over the period. Subsidiaries, Mahanadi Coalfields and Bharat Coking Coal, with growth of just over 55 per cent and 29 per cent, were among the top of the list during the time.
“This bodes well for the state owned coal mining behemoth as overburden removal is an important performance parameter that removes topsoil and lays bare the coal seams for future mining in opencast mines.
“This is a positive sign and secures options for our future coal output at short notice, once demand picks up” said a company executive. “All our coal producing subsidiaries have posted growth in overburden removal during May compared to the same month last year”.
