Synopsis:
- India’s coal production reached a new milestone of 223.36 Million Tonne (MT) during Q1 FY24, an 8.6% y-o-y growth, driven by a 9.8% y-o-y increase in production by Coal India Limited (CIL). This is an all-time high volume of coal produced in India in the first quarter of a financial year. The power sector continued to be the largest consumer of domestic coal, accounting for 82% of the total despatches during Q1 FY24.
- Total coal imports surged by 14% y-o-y to 47.27 MT during Q1FY24, with non-coking coal accounting for 64% of the imports.
- Under the seventh round of coal block auction, which commenced in March 2023, about 103 fully explored, partially explored, coking, non-coking, lignite etc. coal mines are being offered. In this round, 35 bids have been received for 18 coal mines.
- “The domestic coal production remained healthy in Q1FY24 and is expected to reach the government’s target of 1 billion tonnes in FY24, a 13% growth y-o-y, driven by an increase in overall coal production by CIL and captive mines. The Government of India is also taking various initiatives to reduce dependency on imports for domestic demands which are expected to fructify in the medium-long term. The coal prices have cooled off and nearing the pre-pandemic level from the previous year’s high. CareEdge Research expects the coal prices to remain muted during this fiscal, however, they will continue to be higher than the pre-Covid-year price averages,” Tanvi Shah, Director, CareEdge Advisory & Research, said.
