South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), a Coal India subsidiary, conducted its second spot e-auction for 1.79 million tonnes (mnt) of non-coking coal on 21 February, 2023.
G11 grade of coal from Dipka, Gevra and Kusmunda mines constituted 56% (1 mnt) of the total offered quantity, which was booked at an average price of INR 4,017/t, as per sources.
Interestingly, Dipka, Gevra and Kusmunda are three of India’s largest mines. However, offerings via spot e-auctions from these mines is not common, both in quantity and frequency. In fact, such a big auction for 1.7 mnt was last held back in March 2021.
For traders and end-users, it’s a good opportunity to stock up on coal before summer. Buyers from Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal booked the coal at the auction.
Bid premium rises
In the recent auction on 21 February, SECL sold 1.79 mnt of coal at a price of INR 4,252/t, garnering a premium of 251% over the notified price.
The premium rose compared to 208% in the previous auction on 7 February. However, it was lower compared with 278% recorded in January.
Grade-wise analysis
SECL has a wide range of coal grades to offer; however, there have been irregularities in terms of product mix.
For the 21 February auction, the grades on sale ranged from G5 to G12, G14 and G15 grades. Except low-GCV grades, all the grades offered saw a decline in bids compared with the last auction. G14 coal prices rose by 11% compared to the prior auction because of the low offering.
Compared to the January auction, all the common grades offered saw a decline in the 21 February auction.
Mine-wise analysis
The highest bid in the auction was INR 6,399/t for G5 coal from Gayatri mine and the lowest bid was for Umaria G14 grade coal. Jampali coal, in contrast, attracted the highest bids from mines offering low-GCV coals. However, G10 coal was booked at a diverse price range. Amgaon mine coal was booked at INR 6,013/t (G10 grade), while coal from Saraipali mine was booked at INR 3,900/t.
Top buyers
The top buyers were government-owned Hindalco Industries Ltd., which booked about 290,000 t, followed by Bharat Aluminium Co. Ltd., which procured almost 195,000 t. Together, they booked 27 % of the total offered quantity. Agarwal Fuel Corporation booked 79,500 t, the third-largest buyer at the auction.
Leave a Reply