Coal India committed to meet 'elevated' demand of power sector, says official

Mining major Coal India Ltd is committed to meet the "elevated" demand of the dry fuel from the power sector, including coastal plants dependent on imports, a company official said on Tuesday. The miner had hoped the demand would ease by December last year, but that did not happen, he said.

"We are committed to catering to the coal needs of the power sector, be it domestic or those dependent on imports, despite CIL being stretched," a senior company official told PTI when asked whether it was capable of plugging the gaps arising out of Indonesian supply disruptions.

"We have already started supplying some amount of coal to the coastal plants to cut down on imports," he added.

Indonesia had banned coal exports since January 1 due to domestic shortages and the impasse still prevails. This has led to a surge in prices in the international market.

India imports 5-9 million tonnes of coal per month from Indonesia, officials said.

The world's largest miner is trying to keep up to the demand by dispatching over 1.75 million tonnes of coal per day to the power sector, they said.

India's power consumption grew by 4.5 per cent in December 2021 to 110.34 billion units (BU) over the same period a year ago, according to power ministry data.

In the first 16 days, Coal India's average daily production stood at 2.35 million tonnes. It is targeting 670 million tonnes of production in the 2021-22 fiscal. Till January 16, the total ouput was at 445 million tonnes.