Coal news and updates

CIL cuts August e-auction quantity by more than 50%

September 11: Total sales by Coal India Ltd (CIL) through the spot e-auction route fell by more than 50% to 0.831 million tons (mt) in August from 1.70 mt in July, an official from CIL told ICMW.

The total sale of coal through the e-auction route during the first five months (April-August) of 2014-15 stood at 17.10 mt, the official said.

CIL had resorted to drastic cuts in e-auction volumes since June this year following a directive from the Ministry of Coal.

The directive from the ministry came in order to make available higher amount of coal to the power sector, which was facing shortage of coal due to higher demand for electricity.

A large number of power plants in the country were operating at higher plant load factor (PLF) due to excess demand for electricity amidst low availability of hydro power on the back of scanty rainfall in the country, industry sources said.