Coal India Ltd (CIL) has seen an improvement in its coal demand from the power sector on the back of revival in electricity consumption in the country.
Stimulated by increased activity and higher power consumption, coal supply to the power sector registered a growth of 44% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 43.53 mn t in May ’21 compared to 30.15 mn t in May ’20.
The robust growth, however, was attributed to a weaker base period as coal demand was severely affected by the Covid-induced lock-down in FY ’21.
However, indicating a healthy recovery, the off-take in May ’21 also grew 3% m-o-m from 42.40 mn t in Apr ’20.
Incidentally, the company attained coal off-take in excess of 40 mn t in each of the first two months of FY ’22. In contrast, the 40 mn t off-take mark was crossed for the first time in Dec ’20 in the previous fiscal.
Moreover, drastic fall in coal stocks had also prompted power producers to increase coal intake during the month.
With higher coal consumption, stocks at the power plants had fallen by 53% y-o-y to 23.87 mn t at the end of Apr ’21, as per data provided by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). However, increased supply from CIL restored the coal stock level to 28.81 mn t at the end of May ’21.
Subsidiary-wise coal movement
Improved demand saw an uptick in coal loading via rail-mode to meet electricity consumption during the peak summer season.
During May ’21, CIL recorded average coal loading of 244.8 rakes/day to the power sector, which was 59% higher on the year from 154 rakes/day in May ’20.
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) registered the highest rake loading at an average of 62.5 rakes/day followed by South Eastern Coalfields (SECL). However, among the various subsidiaries, only Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL) had managed higher rake loading than the target set for May ’21.
Rake loading summary for May ’21
Despite the ongoing Covid restrictions this time, CIL has been able to keep its coal supply volumes elevated mainly due to the healthy demand from the power sector. Nevertheless, with the departure of summer , a lot would depend upon industrial demand to keep the coal consumption level high.
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