Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL) has decided to conduct coal sales under the special spot scheme in the current month.
This is the first time that coal is being offered under the auction window since Jun’21, which incidentally was held by CCL too. Moreover, the previous auction had received an overwhelming response as nearly the entire offered volume was sold out.
However, other subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (CIL) have been reluctant in offering coal in this auction. Instead, they have preferred special spot auction for ‘coal importers’ window which is an upgrade on the ‘original’ special spot auction, introduced in Oct’20.
Evidently, a total of 36.2 mn t of coal was offered in the special spot auction for ‘coal importers’ scheme during Oct’20-Aug’21.
In contrast, the coal quantity offered in the ‘original’ special spot auction was 13.8 mn t in the same time-period, where, apart from CCL only Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) had participated.
Grade-wise coal offers
The latest auction to be held on 28 Sept’21 features sales of 915,000 tonnes (t), which is comparatively lower compared to the volumes offered in the auctions held in the past months.
Quantity in Metric Tonne (t) | Prices in INR/t
But the company has proposed to sell 15,000 t of W-II (washery grade) coking coal for the first time in the special spot auction since FY’17 (the period from which CoalMint has started tracking the auction data).
Apart from the coking coal grades, majority of the coal falls under premium grade of non-coking coal in the range of (G6-G11) which is ideal for the coal consumers. Coal rejects and by-products have a minuscule share in the total volume.
During Aug’21, CCL was the worst performer among the CIL subsidiaries as it had registered sales of only 10% of the offered volume. However, with the prevailing coal shortage in the domestic market, the company is expected to witness an improved turnout at its auction.
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