Coal India's production down marginally in FY20

Coal India Ltd on Wednesday said it has produced 602.14 million tonne of dry fuel during 2019-20 fiscal, down by 0.8 per cent from the previous year's output. The miner had produced 606.89 million tonne of coal in 2018-19. The company achieved 91 per cent of its 660 million tonne production target for FY20, an official said.

"Production was hit due to prolonged monsoon during the first half of the fiscal but we recovered in the second half," the company official said.

The miner's production in March grew by 6.5 per cent to 84.36 million tonne as compared to 79.19 million tonne produced in the year-ago month, according to a regulatory filing. "The coal behemoth witnessed a negative growth for the first time in the recent years, though its production had grown year-on -year in the last decade with the increasing demand," an analyst said.

According to provisional data, coal off-take at 581.73 million tonne during FY20 was down by 4.3 per cent as against 608.14 million tonne achieved in the previous year. The Kolkata-headquartered company said its coal supply fell by 10.3 per cent to 53.45 million tonne in March.

The company had supplied 59.60 million tonne of coal to its customers in the year-ago month. Coal off-take was also adversely impacted due to a slowdown in the economy, the analyst said. 

The miner's pit-head stock rose to 74.56 million tonne, offering a buffer for the upcoming summer months while power companies have about 45 million tonne of coal at their stockyards, the official said.