South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), the largest coal producing subsidiary of CIL, has received dull response for coal sales in its recent spot e-auction, where nearly three-fourth of the total sold quantity was booked at a bid price below INR 500/MT.
Amid higher coal availability yielded by enhanced production, the company had raised the quantity floated in spot e-auction to 2,000,000 MT for Jan’20, which was the highest tentative offer seen in FY20. However, the auction held on 24 Jan’20 had witness sales of 1,868,800 MT coal, with 6 out of the proposed 20 lots carrying unsold quantity at the end of the bidding process.
The auction had also received comparatively lower price bids this term, wherein average bid of INR 1470.7/MT had fetched 15% premium over the average reserve price of INR 1276.89/MT accessed for the sales. Detailed results of the auction can be seen here.
Apparently, SECL’s previous auction in Dec’19 had seen entire quantity booked at an impressive premium of 63% noted over the average reserve price.
Grade-wise Bids Fetched in SECL’s Spot E-Auction
| Grade | Quantity | Price | ||
| Offer | Sold | Reserve | Bid | |
| G5 | 30000 | 30,000 | 3285 | 3911.86 |
| G6 | 100,000 | 27,350 | 3029 | 3030.63 |
| G7 | 66,000 | 45,250 | 2776.32 | 2849.39 |
| G8 | 55,000 | 55,000 | 2109 | 3312.54 |
| G9 | 85,000 | 64,550 | 1642 | 1682.61 |
| G11 | 494,700 | 494,700 | 1374 | 2046.78 |
| G12 | 40,000 | 40,000 | 1276 | 1312.67 |
| G13 | 10,000 | 9,800 | 1176 | 1177.25 |
| G14 | 284,300 | 284,300 | 1077 | 1107.86 |
| G15 | 475,000 | 475,000 | 850 | 1150.97 |
| G16 | 360,000 | 342,850 | 725 | 725 |
| Total | 2,000,000 | 1,868,800 | 1276.89 | 1470.7 |
Source: CoalMint Research
Quantity in MT
Prices in INR/MT
Barring coal offered from specific lots pertaining to G5, G8, G11 and G15 grades, remaining quantities had fetched moderate bids which were close to the floor price. Incidentally, the highest bid received in excess of reserve coal price for this month’s auction was marked at INR 1390/MT, which was nearly 28% lower than INR 1930/MT noted in the previous month’s auction.
Highest bid price of INR 3940/MT was fetched for G7 grade of coal offered from Singhali, which had proposed ‘Slack’ size specification of coal for sale. The lot had fetched bids in range of INR 1110-1130/MT over the reserve price of INR 2774/MT.
In contrast, the same grade of coal having Run-of-Mine (ROM) specification from Khairaha mine had only received bids in excess of INR 20/MT over the floor price, thereby reducing the price realization for G7 coal grade.
Majority of the volume floated from lower coal grades (G14-G16) were sold in the auction, but had fetched comparatively lower bids price than the rest of the lot. As a matter of fact, nearly 25% of the total sold quantity falling under these grades was booked at the base price.
Major Coal Receivers:
Bharat Aluminium Company emerged as the largest coal buyer with intake of 246,244 MT; followed by D B Power which had procured 197,288 MT coal in the auction.
Both these companies had acquired G11, G14 and G15 grades of coal to run their plant’s operations.
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