State-owned Coal India Ltd announced that it produced 685.1 million tonnes (MT) of coal during April-February period of the ongoing fiscal year, recording a rise of 10.5 per cent year-on-year. During the same period last year, it had registered an output of 619.7 million tonnes. For February, Coal India posted a production increase of 8.72 per cent on-year at 74.8 mt in comparison to 68.8 mt in the year-ago month.
Meanwhile, the total offtake of coal during the April-February period increased to 684.7 mt, up 8.6 per cent from 630.5 mt in the corresponding period last fiscal. Coal offtake is the amount of fossil fuel supplied from the pitheads. For February, coal offtake was at 65.3 mt, up 12.0 per cent in comparison to 58.3 mt during the same period last year.
Coal India released the provisional and off-take performance of the company and its subsidiary companies for the month of February 2024 and for the period April- February 2024 in a regulatory filing.
Earlier in February this year, Coal India Chairman PM Prasad had said that the company is planning to lower its production of the dry fuel to 838 mt in the upcoming financial year 2024-25 against the targeted 850 mt. This, he had added, will be due to having accumulated ‘huge stocks’ which have grown to more than 38 mt, an all-time high for this time of the year.
The company produced 78.4 mt of coal the previous month taking its cumulative output for the Apr-Jan period at 610.3 mt. The company has set a target of 780 mt production for the financial year ending March. However, it is likely to miss its FY24’s production target, the Chairman had stated.
