Coal news and updates

India coal stocks under pressure owing to rail bottlenecks: Kemp

LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - India's distributed coal stocks remain critically low as the country struggles to produce and transport enough fuel to meet surging demand from power generators.

Power generators' inventories are equivalent to just eight days worth of consumption compared with 16 days at the same point last year and before the pandemic.

In a normal year, distributed inventories increase over winter, when lower temperatures reduce electricity demand and generation, and the end of the monsoon permits greater coal production.

But stocks have remained persistently low at seven to nine days since August 2021 despite a government campaign to increase mine output and distribution.

Restocking has been dealt a further blow by a heatwave across the country over the last two months boosting air conditioning and refrigeration demand.

Power producers' stocks are at the lowest pre-summer level for nine years, which will constrain generation and ensure blackouts continue