Coal imports decreases from 217.78 MT in 2014-15 to 199.88 MT

21 November 2016

On account of increased production by Coal India Ltd. (CIL) in 2015-16, coal imports have fallen from 217.78 Mte. in 2014-15 to 199.88 Mte. in 2015-16. In order to meet coal demand internally and make India self-sufficient in coal production, the focus of the Government is on increasing the domestic production from indigenous sources which includes efforts to expedite Environment and Forest clearances, land acquisition and coordinated efforts with Railways for movement of coal.

A roadmap has been prepared by CIL to enhance production of coal to 100 crore tonnes by 2019-20. This includes capacity addition from new projects, use of mass production technologies and identification of existing on-going projects with growth potential.

This was stated by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for the Ministry of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha.

The details of import of coal and value during the last three years and current year are:

In accordance to the Presidential Directive issued to Coal India Limited (CIL) and under the provision of new Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA), option is given to Power utility sector consumers to opt for supply of a part of Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) from imported coal through CIL. No Thermal Power Plant/Coal company has approached CIL for supply of imported coal for 2016-17.  As coal is an item under Open General License(OGL), it can also be imported directly by the consumers.

As per the initial estimate, the demand for coal in 2016-17 is estimated to be 884.87 MT against which supply plan from indigenous sources has been planned to be 724.71 MT (CIL: 598.61 MT; SCCL: 58 MT & Other sources including captive blocks: 68.10 MT) leaving a demand supply gap of 160.16 MT to be met through imports by consuming sectors.

Source – IIFL