DOMESTIC India's coal stocks breach 100 mt as demand weakens in coronavirus crisis
peaked to a new high of 3.17 mt on 20 March 2020 - the highest ever single day production so far - overtaking the 3.14 mt production recorded on 25 March 2020.
India's coal stocks breached 100 million tonne (mt) as power demand weakened, leading to lower coal sales since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Before the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, around 4.5 mt of stocks was getting added every month on the average, however, in March 2020, the net stock addition is expected to be around 11-12 mt.
Coal India officials said the company continues to produce around 2.5 mt of coal daily, but less than 2 mt was dispatched to the power sector in the past 15 days which led stocks to pile up drastically in its pitheads. While the coal stocks in the Maharatna company peaked to around 60 mt, coal stocks in power plants rose to 41.41 mt – the highest ever inventory level in the country till date. Despite the overstock situation, coal output had
20 | CCAI Monthly Newsletter March 2020
In fact, during the first 15 days of this month, when the scare around Covid-19 surfaced, electricity consumption stood at 51 billion units (BU) which is 3.6 per cent lower than the demand in the same period in 2019. According to data from Central Electricity Authority, the coal stock is enough for plants to produce power for 24 days without any supply from Coal India.
