Coal India has set a production and offtake target of 700 million tonnes in 2022-23 after achieving a record production in 2021-22.
The public sector miner achieved a record production of 622.6 million tonnes for the financial year ended March 31, 2022, eclipsing the previous high of 607 million tonnes in 2018-19. In 2020-21, Coal India had produced 596.2 million tonnes.
Coal production during March 2022 was pegged at 80.3 million tonnes, down marginally by 1.1 per cent compared with the same period the previous year.
Eastern Coalfields and South Eastern Coalfields were among the coal subsidiaries that saw production decline from levels in March last year. Land acquisition was a major concern in Rajmahal mines and its resolution will play a vital role in a production turnaround at ECL.
Coal India’s total offtake in 2021-22 was at 662 million tonnes posting a sharp 15.3 per cent growth during the fiscal. The average loading reached a high of 271.2 rakes per day compared with an average of 241.4 rakes loaded in 2020-21.
Coal supplies to the power sector were at 540.4 million tonnes during the year compared with 445 million tonnes in 2020-21.
“CIL has turned out a prolific performance, even as the second wave of Covid during the first quarter of the fiscal year and the extended monsoon threatened production and loading operations. Handling volatility of coal demand from the power sector in the second half of the year was another challenge,” said Coal India in a statement on Friday.
A contributor to the production boost ahead is the clearance of 16 coal mining projects, of which 7 are greenfield, and 9 are expansion projects. Combined these have a total capacity of nearly 100 million tonnes per annum. Coal India said that it has already issued work orders for 5 projects of the identified 15 MDO (mine developer and operator) projects during 2021-22.
Having started the financial year 2021-22 with 99.13 million tonnes of stock at its pitheads, Coal India could liquidate 38.4 million tonnes during the year, the highest for any year.
