Coal news and updates

Feb steam coal imports by APGENCO drop 28% m-o-m

Imports of steam coal by Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGENCO) in February 2016 were at 71,000 tons against 99,000 tons in January 2016, down 28.28% month-on-month, as per data available with ICMW.

The February 2016 import target for the utility was 250,000 tons, as set by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). Thus, the materialisation in this month was a mere 28% of the target.

It may be noted that there were no imports of steam coal by APGENCO in the four months preceding October, 2015-16, and then again for the two months of November-December, 2015, as the chart below indicates.

The utility had been given a revised target to import 2,750,000 tons of coal in the first 11 months of 2015-16, of which only 12% could be met at 332,000 tons. However, this figure was a decline of 79% over 1,618,000 tons received during the same period in the previous fiscal.

There has been a bifurcation of APGENCO following creation of Telengana following which only two plants (Vijayawada and Rayalseema) are left with APGENCO while three plants (Kothagudum, Ramagundam B and Kakatiya) have gone to Telengana State Generation Company (TSGENCO).

The following chart provides the monthly break-up of coal imports by APGENCO in 2015-16, 2014-15 and 2013-14 (provisional and in ‘000 tons):

Note: 2014-15 and 2013-14 figures are for combined utility (APGENCO and TSGENCO)