>>The decision of the Indian Government to actuate commercial coal mining in the country—and that means: opening up the coal sector for private players—is undoubtedly regarded to be a game changer for the coal industry in the country; but the same has not gone well with the mine worker class.
The Indian National Mine Workers Federation (INMWF) is learnt to have convened a meeting on 12Mar’18, discussing the various aspects of the modalities crafted out in respect to the commercial coal mining process by the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 20Feb’18. It was further learnt that they apprehend that the entry of private players into the coal sector will pave way for the government controlled entities—CIL and SCCL—to eventually go extinct.
In the meeting, it was decided to observe 6Apr’18 as a protest day, as learnt.
>>Concerned over the dwindling coal stocks at Indian thermal power plants, the Union Coal Minister, Piyush Goyal, has asked the Indian Railways authorities to raise the daily coal loading upto 500 rakes from 464 rakes. Moreover, Coal Ministry officials will be deputed at coal companies to oversee and ensure that higher coal is transported to the siding and rakes are loaded faster.
Coal supplies to thermal power plants have not undergone improvement since the last monsoon, and at least 50 odd power plants are with inadequate stocks of coal.
>> In what could be regarded as a clear signal of Thermal Coal import offers to remain at highs, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of the Indonesian Government has set its reference price for Thermal Coal during Mar’18 at USD 101.86/MT FoB, which is up by 1.2% month-on-month. The reference price, also called as the Harga Batubara Acuan or HBA, for Mar’18 also is higher by 24.4% year-on-year.
The coal variant corresponding to the HBA bears the specification: GAR 6,322 KCAL/KG, Moisture Content 8%, Ash Content 15% and Sulphur Content 0.8%.
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