Coal news and updates

India’s captive blocks FY15 output up 24% y-o-y

April 28: As expected, coal production from the captive blocks in India rose 24.45% to 65.81million tons (mt) in 2014-15 from 52.88 mt recorded in 2013-14, according to provisional data available with ICMW.

Contrary to general expectations, ICMW had earlier reported that production from captive coal blocks would not be affected in the aftermath of the de-allocation of the blocks by the Supreme Court in view of the fact that end-use plants (EUPs) would not be allowed to shut down for want of coal.

The latest figures suggest that ICMW’s report was correct. However, it remains to be seen what will be the impact on production from the captive mines after the recently held auctions for 40 operational mines that changed hands with effect from April 1, 2015.

The target for 2014-15 was 68.25 mt, which means output from the captive blocks during the period fell short by 2.44 mt.

In March 2015, coal production from captive blocks stood at 5.34 mt, slightly down from 5.36 mt produced in the same month of 2013-14, data revealed.

Production from captive block in March, however, fell short of their monthly target of 5.69 mt.

On a month-on-month basis, coal output from captive blocks rose from 4.73 mt recorded in February 2015. In January 2015, output form captive blocks stood at 6.14 mt.

Production target for the captive blocks for the month of March was 5.69 mt, same as in each month from June to February.