CIL accounts for over 80% of domestic coal output, whose demand likely to be subdued in the 2nd quarter due to lower demand and high inventory
New Delhi, August 29: According to the latest data of the coal ministry, state-owned Coal India Limited’s (CIL) fuel supply, in the wake of slump in coal demand, registered 19.5% decline to 126.30 MT in the April-July period of the ongoing fiscal, compared to the 156.86 MT of fuel dispatched in April-July last year. The dispatch of coal by CIL in July fell 12.4% to 33.76 MT, from 37.41 MT supply in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, the data revealed.
From 18.32 MT of fuel supplied in the corresponding period a year ago, Singareni Collieries Company Limited’s (SCCL) coal dispatch dropped by almost 47.2% to 9.68 MT in the first 4 months of the current financial year, with the coal supply by SCCL dropping last month to 2.40 MT from 4.33 MT in July 2019.
With CIL accounting for over 80% of domestic coal output, India Ratings had earlier said in a report that demand for domestic coal is likely to be subdued in the second quarter of the current financial year due to lower demand from end-user industries amid the Covid-19 pandemic along with high inventory at power stations. The rating agency had said domestic coal production remained subdued for the third consecutive month in June 2020 y-o-y as well as month-on-month due to low power demand and higher inventory at power stations.
And because of that, Ind-Ra said, the coal offtake reduced in June 2020 year-on-year but improved month-on-month with the gradual relaxation in lockdown norms.
