CIL’s Sales through Spot Auction Rises 2.74% Y-o-Y in FY18

Coal India Ltd (CIL) has achieved higher coal sales through spot auction in FY18, as the scarcity of domestic coal supply had pushed buyers’ to meet their demand from the open market.

As per the data provided by Ministry of Coal, under the spot scheme of auction, 55.17 MnT coal was allocated during FY18 (Apr’17-Mar’18), which was 2.74% more than the previous years’ sales figure of 53.70 MnT coal. Besides, the sales had also garnered 66% increase over the notified price during the year.

Spot coal auction scheme was started in Nov’07, where Indian buyer could procure coal in a simple and transparent manner for their own consumption or for trading. This method of coal procurement is generally expensive than the FSA(Fuel Supply Agreement) route, as the base price for coal offered in the spot auction is 20% higher than the actual price set by CIL.

However, when the domestic coal supply had come under scrutiny, more aggressive buying was seen in the CIL’s spot auctions during the Oct’17-Dec’17 period. In addition, the company had also reduced the respective coal quantities offered in the spot auctions as well.

CIL had also recorded remarkable improvement in sales through the Exclusive e-auction for Non-power sector during the year. Total coal allocated under this scheme was 11.11 MnT in FY18, 76% higher on the year compared with 6.3 MnT in FY17, as the coal company had regulated the coal supplies to the non-power sector to augment the supplies of power sector.

On the other hand, CIL’s sales though the Special forward e-auction for power sector had fallen 39% Y-o-Y to 28.93 MnT in FY18, compared with 47.07 MnT in FY17.

Apart from attaining coal through the Special forward e-auctions, power plants’ fuel security was also increased by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) with the approval of SHAKTI scheme, for plants that do not hold any long term linkages. During the auction held in Sep’17, 27.18 MnT of annual coal linkage was booked by the successful bidders.

CIL has floated a provisional calendar, in order to comply the e-auction schedule with its customers. The prior intimation of the e-auction schedule would help the power producers to plan their generation in a better way.

Source: CIL
Quantity in MnT
Note: No quantity were offered in the remaining months