Coal news and updates

India’s January coal despatches flat at 57.88 mt

India’s coal despatches in the month of January 2016 stood at 57.88 million tons (mt), almost unchanged from 57.80 mt despatched in December 2015, according to provisional data available with ICMW.

Inability of power plants to take delivery of coal in view of higher stocks already lying with them appear to be the main reason for the almost flat growth in despatches on a month-on-month basis.

The despatches in January this year were considerably lower than the target of 63.95 mt set for the month, the data showed.

On a year-on-year basis, the despatches in January 2016 were higher by 6.45% as compared to 54.37 mt recorded in the same month of 2015.

Coal despatches in the first 10 months (April-January) of the current fiscal (2015-16) stood at 519.65 mt, down nearly 10% from the target of 574.18 mt, but up 5.16% from 494.13 mt recorded in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Of the total coal despatched during April-January of 2015-16, as much as 437.28 mt was despatched by CIL, which was 9.76% higher compared to 398.38 mt recorded in the same period of previous fiscal.

The following chart provides monthly coal despatch volumes in FY16, FY15 and FY14, (in million tons):

*Figure may not match due to revision in figures of previous months of 2015-16 (and also rounding off), the details of which is not available with ICMW.