Domestic

Govt to Ramp up Per Day Coal Production From 1.94 Million Tonnes to 2 Million Tonnes in Next 5 days

The Ministry of Power has requested all states and Union Territories to use unallocated power only to supply electricity to its consumers in the State and not impose load shedding or sell it in power exchanges at higher prices.This came amid reports of possible power disruptions in some states due to coal shortage. The ministry said in a memorandum, “It has been brought to the notice of Ministry of Power that some States are not supplying power to their consumers and imposing load shedding. At the same time, they are also selling power in the power exchange at a high price.” “The States have therefore been requested to use the unallocated power for supplying electricity to the consumers of the State,” the power ministry said in its memo.

Coal ministry to augment fuel supply to power sector from captive mines

The coal ministry has said it has taken various measures, including diverting the output from captive coal mines, to augment fuel supply to the power sector. The development assumes significance in the wake of country's power plants grappling with coal shortages. The ministry offered coal supply from NLC India's Talabira II & III mines in Odisha to NTPC. In this connection, both the companies worked

together to commence the supply of coal from Talabira II & III open cast project (OCP) to NTPC (Darlipali & Lara Power Plants). NLC India Limited, a navratna company under the administrative control of the Ministry of Coal is operating Talabira II & III coal mines having annual capacity of 20 million tonnes in in Odisha. Talabira II& III OCP has commenced production from the financial year 2020-21. State-owned NLC India this week said it is making efforts to ramp up coal output from one of its mines in Odisha to up to 10 million tonnes per annum this year.

Govt launches next tranche of auction of coal mines

The Ministry of Coal has launched the auction process of 40 new coal mines after the successful auction of 28 coal mines in the first two tranches. With coal mines rolling over from the previous tranche, there shall be a total of 88 coal mines on offer. Total geological resources of about 55 billion tonnes of coal are on offer from these 88 mines, of which 57 are fully explored mines and 31 are partially explored mines with 4 coking coal mines on offer. Mines are spread across 10 coal-bearing states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Arunachal Pradesh, and Assam. From this tranche onwards, the Ministry of Coal has introduced provisions in the Agreement related to sustainable mining operations, including mine closure; Mechanised evacuation of coal; and Surrender of a coal mine by successful bidder upon encountering difficult mining conditions. The list of mines has been finalized post detailed deliberations and mines falling under protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, critical habitats, having forest cover greater than 40 percent, heavily built-up area, etc. have been excluded.

Govt amends rules to allow 50% sale of coal from captive mines

The government has said it has amended rules with a view to allow 50 per cent sale of coal from captive mines. The move is likely to benefit over 100 captive coal and lignite blocks with over 500 million tonnes per annum peak rated capacity as well as all coal and lignite bearing states. This is applicable for both the private and public sector captive mines. With this amendment, the government has paved the way for releasing of additional coal in the market by greater utilisation of mining capacities of captive coal and lignite blocks, which were being only partly utilised owing to limited production of coal for meeting their captive needs. Availability of additional coal will ease pressure on power plants and will also aid in importsubstitution of coal. The allowance for sale prescribed quantity of coal or lignite shall also motivate the lessees to enhance the production from the captive mines. Further, payment of additional premium amount, royalty and other statutory payments in respect of the quantity of coal or lignite sold shall boost the revenue of the state governments.

India considering strategic reserves for gas, imported coal

India is considering maintaining strategic reserves of natural gas and imported coal to address future supply shocks, a senior power ministry official said. Considering the recent coal supply crunch to the Power sector, Alok Kumar, India's power secretary, said the country should start thinking and discussing about keeping a strategic reserve of gas and imported coal, so that economies are able to tide over these supply shocks for about

a month or so. He said other countries are increasingly diversifying meet their own needs first when there is a supply crunch, citing the example of Russia curtailing supplies to European nations because they wanted more gas locally. Most of India's 135 coal-fired power plants have fuel stocks of less than three days. Coal accounts for over 70% of India's electricity generation.

Coal India supply to power sector grows by 12% to 118 MT in Sep qtr

State-owned Coal India Ltd supplied 117.6 million tonnes (MT) of coal to power utilities during July-September of the current fiscal, registering a growth of 12.3 per cent. "Coal India Ltd (CIL) supplied 117.6 million tonnes to power utilities during July- September 2021 quarter, the highest for Q2 of any year, posting 12.3 per cent growth," the PSU said in a statement. This is a volume jump of 13 MT compared to 104.7 MT in the same quarter last year. The growth is even higher at 17.2 per cent when matched against 100.3 MT of COVID-free second quarter of FY'20. CIL's total offtake shot up to 147.3 MT at the quarter ending September which is 9.7 per cent more against comparable quarter of last year when the offtake was 134.3 MT. In fact, during the first half of this financial year CIL's offtake to power sector at nearly 246 MT was highest ever for this period so far but the demand from this sector was even higher as an outcome of a sudden spike in coal-based generation to unprecedented levels.

Mjunction auctions 11,00,000 tonne of NLCIL coal to supplement CIL supplies

NLCIL, erstwhile Neyvelli Lignite Corporation, has offered 11,00,000 tonne of coal from its Talabira -2 &3 open cast mines in Odisha on Mjunctions’s e-market place as a measure to make some coal available to consumers at a time when Coal India ( CIL) has suspended eauctions for traders and non-power consumers. NLCIL had offered coal between a gross calorific value of 3,101 and 3,400 at a reserve price of Rs 2,492.93 per tonne. Although neither NLCIL nor Mjunction wanted to disclose the amount lifted off the offered quantity or the premium fetched from the auction, a ministry official said only NLCIL has supported with supplies at the hour of crisis. NLCIL has supplied additional 50,000 tonne each to NTPC’s Darlipali thermal power station in Odisha and NTPC’s Lara TPS in Chhattisgarh. But there are no reports of any of the 43 captive mines augmenting production despite the Centre allowing sale of 50% of their excess production in the open market.

Pralhad Joshi directs coal PSUs to increase production, dispatch

Union minister for coal, mines, and parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi held talks with coal companies and sort out the coal crisis, which has affected power production in India. He chaired a meeting at the headquarters of the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) with officials of the CCL, the Bharat Coking Coal Limited, the Eastern Coalfields Limited and the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute. Additional secretary in coal ministry VK Tiwary and CIL chairman Pramod Agarwal also attended the meeting. He directed officials to ensure sustained coal production and dispatch to power plants and ensure that there is no shortage. “The festive season has begun and it’s our duty to provide an uninterrupted supply of coal to power plants,” he said, stressing that coal firms should take

steps to clear the bottlenecks in coal production and transport. Joshi also assured power plants that they would continue to get their requisite supply.

Mahanadi Coalfields Dispatched 5.4 Lakh Tonnes of Coal In October

Amid fuel crisis faced by many states earlierin October, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has dispatched more than 5.47 lakh tonnes of dry fuel across the country till October 17, 2021, which it claimed was a record as the company broke its own record of dispatching 5.45 lakh tonnes of coal within a fortnight. The company also dispatched the highest ever 103 rakes of coal to various plants. The company's chairman P K Sinha said that MCL has sufficient coal stock for the month of October and in fact the coal production, dispatch and overburden removal have registered a growth of 26.5 per cent, 34.3 per cent and 71 per cent respectively as against the same period during the previous fiscal. The company said that in order to maximise supplies led to an average dispatch of 5.17 lakh tonnes of coal per day during October.

SCCL to scale up coal production

Chairman and Managing Director of the Singareni Collieries N. Sridhar has stated that sufficient coal is being transported to the thermal generation units on daily basis, hence, there is no question of scarcity. The units have not faced any scarcity for the past seven years, and the same trend will be continued in future too, he assured. Apart from local consumption, coal is also being exported to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which have supply agreements with SCCL. The supply will be scaled up in the coming days, Sridhar said. Measures are being taken to meet targets of coal supply from all open cast and underground mines, and Singareni is prepared to supply 1.9 lakh tonnes of coal every day. Starting from next month, the supply will be scaled up to two lakh tonnes, he informed, and asked the officials concerned to gear up for meeting the targets.

Environment ministry relaxes expansion norms for certain mines

The Union environment ministry has relaxed the environmental norms for the expansion of certain iron, manganese, bauxite, and limestone mines. According to an office memorandum (OM) issued on October 20, expansion of up to 20% capacity for mines of these four minerals with a 5-star rating can be allowed only based on public consultation. The OM said the ministry of mines and other stakeholders sent representations to the environment ministry to simplify the procedure for issuing environmental clearance for these minerals. The request was referred to the joint expert appraisal committee (coal and non-coal mining sector) of the environment ministry. The panel decided that mines with a 5-star rating, which had been granted environmental clearance based on a public hearing, can expand their capacity by up to 20%. They can do so after conducting a public consultation.

Indian Railways’ Trishul& Garuda long haul freight trains: Effective solution for capacity constraints

Indian Railways has run two long haul freight trains “Trishul” and “Garuda” over the South Central Railway network successfully. These long haul freight trains which are twice or multiple times longer than the normal composition of Indian Railways’ freight trains provide a very

effective solution to the problem of capacity constraints in critical rail sections including saving of path across congested routes, maximizing the throughput of critical sections, quicker transit time, saving in crews. the long haul train- Trishul is South Central Railways’ first long haul train comprising of three freight trains, i.e., a total of 177 wagons while The South Central Railway followed it up with the running of yet another similar one named Garuda on 8 October 2021 from Raichur of Guntakal Division to Manuguru of Secunderabad Division. The bulk of the South Central Railway zone’s freight traffic moves in certain arterial routes such as Ballarshah – Kazipet – Vijayawada, Kazipet – Secunderabad – Wadi, Visakhapatnam – Vijayawada – Gudur – Renigunta, Vijayawada – Guntur – Guntakal sections.

ECoR Records Highest-Ever Coal-Loading In Single Day From Talcher

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has carried 66 rakes of coal from Talcher Loading points to various States of the country which is the highest ever loading in a single day. East Coast Railway has loaded 2.6 lakh tonne of coal towards Delhi, Punjab, UP Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh from Talcher loading points. Altogether, East Coast Railway has loaded 181 rakes of freight on lastweek; that includes 107 rakes of coal, 31 rakes of minerals and ores, 14 rakes of Iron & Steel and 21 rakes of other freight carried from its jurisdiction.

India aluminium producers draw costly power from grid, hurting utilities low on coal

pensive power from the national grid and adding to pressure on utilities with low coal stock, the Aluminium Association of India (AAI) told Reuters, as state-run Coal India has curbed supplies. Indian aluminium producers such as Hindalco Industries Ltd and Vedanta Ltd largely use power generated from the so-called captive utilities - which are not connected to the national grid - where the companies generate electricity for self-use. AAI estimates aluminium production to annually account for 5-6% of India's total power demand met through the national grid. Aluminium producers says fuel procurement challenges were being exacerbated by by Coal India's decision last week to cancel auctions and curtail supplies under long-term contracts. "Under long-term fuel supply agreements, we were getting full supplies in June, in September that reduced to 60% and in October we are getting as low as 50%," AAI said.

STEEL

India to buy coking coal from Russia; Steel firms look to diversify imports

India has opened up yet another door in cooperation with its strategic energy partner Russia. Union Minister of Steel, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russia’s minister of energy Nikolay Shulginov, for collaboration in the mining and steel sectors, with special focus on coking coal. The move is part of India’s National Steel Policy 2017 under which the country is aiming to reach 300 million tonne steel production by 2030 while simultaneously working on forward and backward integration.

The MoU between the two countries signed in Moscow envisages implementation of joint projects and commercial activities in coking coal, including long-term supplies of high-quality coking coal to India, development of coking coal deposits and logistics development, sharing of experience in coking coal production management, technologies of mining, beneficiation and processing as well as training, said the steel ministry in its release.

. Sponge iron sector might report negative growth due to coal crisis: SIMA

The domestic sponge iron industry might report a negative growth in the ongoing December quarter “if the shortage of coal is allowed to continue”, according to apex industry body SIMA. Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Executive Director Deependra Kashiva said India is expected to report a 60 per cent quarteron-quarter (q-o-q) fall in its sponge iron output during the July-September 2021 period, amid the ongoing coal crisis. As per the JPC data, the sponge iron production growth in April-June 2021 was 70 per cent, compared with January-March 2021. This is expected to come down by 60 per cent to a level of 10 per cent in the second quarter ended September 30, 2021, due to the coal crisis, he said without providing any figures. Sponge iron or direct reduced iron (DRI) is used in producing semi-finished steel items, ingots and billets, which are further used to make various finished steel items. Coal is a key raw material used to produce sponge iron.

FIMI writes to govt for coal allocation, industry at near standstill, it says

In a letter written to Ministry of Coal, RK Sharma, Secretary General, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, said the current acute coal crunch due to various factors has created a precarious situation for coal consumers mainly for steel and aluminium industry falling under non-regulated sector (NRS). The industry is almost at a standstill and is left with no time to devise any mitigation plan to sustain operations, it said. The power plants are running at critically low coal stocks and forced to operate at much reduced capacity with huge risk of facing plant closure and threat of job losses looming, besides threatening domestic value addition, the letter added. Since September 2018, no exclusive coal linkage auction for CPP has been held, while quantity of coal being offered through spot e-auction by road mode is insufficient. Following this, the premium in recent auction has skyrocketed making it unviable for the NRS coal consumers. FIMI also requested expedite exclusive e-auction for NRS consumers through rail mode to provide some relief for consumers and increase rake allocation on priority.

JSW Steel says group combined output grew 29% to 5 MT in JulSep

JSW Steel posted a 29 per cent year-on-year growth in group combined steel production at 5.07 million tonne (MT) during the quarter ended September 30, 2021. In a statement, it said it had produced 3.92 MT in the July-September period of financial year 2020-21. JSW Steel's standalone output rose by 6 per cent 4.10 MT, from 3.85 MT in the year-ago quarter. The capacity utilization at standalone level was at 91 per cent in second quarter of ongoing 2021-22 fiscal, the statement said. Vijayanagar works has taken planned shut-

down for campaign repairs of two of its convertors and Salem works has taken an annual shutdown of one of its blast furnaces, due to which the capacity utilisation remained at an average of 91 per cent in this quarter.

CEMENT

Cement Prices set to go up further

With the recently-formed South Indian Cement Manufacturers’ Association (SICMA) flagging fresh concerns over rising input cost, the ground is being prepared for yet another rise in cement prices. SICMA said the rise in input costs in the last couple of months alone would result in the production cost of cement going up by at least Rs 60 a bag. “It is difficult to predict either further increase in the fuel cost or the capacity utilisation that can be achieved by the cement industry in South India in the near future,” SICMA said in a release. According to SICMA, the last two months have seen an unprecedented increase in the cost of imported coal. SICMA is apprehensive that the cost of coal and petcoke could rise further in the coming days. Cement price has been a politically sensitive subject. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) Tamil Nadu Chapter has always accused cement manufacturers of collusion in fixing prices. Leading cement makers, however, have rejected CREDAI’s claims. Cement, according to them, formed a minuscule part of the building cost. Much of the rise in building cost, according to them, is due to consistently rising land costs.

ACC increases sales and profit in third quarter of 2022 financial year

ACC's third-quarter sales in the 2022 financial year were US$501m, up by 6% year-on-year from US$472m in the third quarter of the 2021 financial year.Its cement sales were 6.57Mt, up by 1.2% from 6.49Mt, while its costs rose by 5.3% to US$428m from US$406m. Press Trust of India News has reported that the company's net profit in the quarter rose by 24% to US$60.1m. The company attributed its 'solid' quarterly performance to its focus on sustainability while meeting customers' needs. Managing director and chief executive officer Sridhar Balakrishnan said "Despite a steep increase in fuel costs, our cost efficiency measures under Project Parvat have enabled us to maintain robust performance." Regarding the full-year outlook, he added "We are positive that the cement sector will benefit from increasing demand in various sectors such as housing, commercial and industrial construction."