Coal India’s Q3 production up 12.33 million tonnes over previous quarter

Coal India Limited (CIL) recorded a 9.4 per cent increase in coal production during Q3 of the current fiscal, ie, October-December 2015, at 143.97 million tonnes against 131.64 million tonnes in the previous quarter – a 12.33 million tonne increase in volume terms.

CIL also held its production tempo steady for the nine months of April-December 2015 also posting a growth of 9.1 per cent. Coal production during April-December 2015 was 373.51 million tonnes against 342.38 million tonnes on a year-on-year comparison with a whopping 31.13 million tonnes increase in absolute terms.

CIL said its strategy of mine wise monitoring, pressing for faster environment clearances, coordination between centre and state authorities working in unison in removing hurdles helped maintain its production growth throughout the year.

CIL posted 10.7 per cent growth in coal supplies during the quarter ending 31 December 2015, supplying  a total of 137.90 million tonnes of coal to its customers during October-December 2015, up 13.33 million tonnes, compared to 124.57 million tonnes during the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

CIL continued its high orbit growth in coal supplies for the nine month period of April-December 2015 also posting a 9.8 per cent growth on a year-on-year comparison. Total coal supplied to its customers during April-December 2015 stood at 389.27 million tonnes, against 354.66 million tonnes during the same period last year, an increase of 34.61 million tonnes in volume terms.

The company in recent times has stepped up its coordination with Indian Railways in a bid to get more rakes and this appears to have paid off in terms of increased supplies.

CIL has been able to maintain growth trajectory in its supplies despite slowdown in the demand for the fuel from coal fired power utilities which account for around 77 per cent of its overall coal supplies.

Coal fired power utilities of the country received 108.2 million tonnes of coal during October-December 2015 against 103.58 million tonnes during same quarter last year. The quarter-on-quarter growth has been 4.5 per cent with 4.62 million tonne absolute increase.

Growth in coal supplies to power utilities surged ahead to 6.8 per cent for the period April-December 2015. CIL moved 299.15 million tonnes of coal to the power plants during the nine month period ending December 2015, compared to 280.22 illion tonnes on an year-on-year basis. In absolute terms the increase has been a healthy 18.93 million tonnes.

Power utilities of the country are flush with coal as coal stocks at their end as of 31 December 2015 at 31.05 million tonnes was more than double compared to same period previous year.

The stock amounted to average of 24 days with no power utility at critical or supercritical condition. Compared to this, as of 31 December 2014, coal stock at power utilities was 13.97 million tonnes equivalent to 9 days with 42 utilities in critical condition and 19 utilities reeling under supercritical condition.

During the third quarter of the fiscal CIL's average loading of rakes per day grew by 9.2 per cent. On an average 220.2 rakes were loaded per day during October-December 2015 against 201.6 rakes per day on quarter-on-quarter comparison. On an average, CIL managed to load 18.6 rakes more per day during the quarter.

Transport of coal through rail mode saw a remarkable growth of 10.1 per cent during April-December 2015 as 207.4 rakes per day were loaded on an average during this period against an average of 188.4 rakes per day during the same period last year. The increase in average loading per day has been 19 rakes.