India’s domestic coal production goes up by 28% as of June 16, 2022

The Ministry of Coal told the media that the total domestic coal production in 2022-23, as of May 31, 2022, is 137.85 mt, which is 28.6% more than the production of 104.83 mt in the same period of last year. This increasing trend is being maintained in June 2022 also.

After a record-breaking coal production of 777 million tonnes (mt) in 2021-22, domestic coal production continues to see an increasing trend in the current financial year (FY) also.

The coal production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) is 28% more than the production in the same period of the last year. The domestic coal production target for the current FY is 911 mt, which is 17.2% more than the last year.

The coal imports for combining the Domestic Coal Based (DCB) power plants have declined to 8.11 mt in the year 2021-22, which has been the lowest coal import in the previous eight years. This was possible only due to the robust coal supply from domestic sources and improved domestic coal production.

From 2016-17 to 2019-20, the Imported Coal Based (ICB) power plants had imported coal of over 45 mt per year. However, coal import by the ICB power plants declined to the lowest level of 18.89 mt in 2021-22. In the year 2021-22, the production from these plants also declined to 39.82 billion units (BU) as corresponded to the 100+ BU which these plants have been producing for quite some time. This year their production remains very low due to the high cost of imported coal.

In the last five years, the coal-based power generation has increased at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.82%, whereas the domestic coal supply to the power sector has increased at a CAGR of 3.26%. Thus, coal supply to the power sector has outpaced the development in coal-based power generation and continues to do so in the current year too.

Coal supply from CIL to the DCB power plants has been more than the supply needed to be made under Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) in the year 2021-22. CIL had provided 540 mt of coal, out of which 483 mt coal was delivered against FSA. This coal was adequate for the power plants to operate at 69% PLF, whereas the DCB power plants ran at a PLF of only 61.3% in the year 2021-22.

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