Coal India output likely to slip 4pc in January after months of growth

Coal India's dry fuel productionis likely to snap a five-month growth streak to register adecline in January, owing to high pithead stock, sources saidon Sunday.

Coal production for the month is likely to be around60.2 million tonnes compared with the corresponding period ayear ago, when the output was at 63.11 million tonnes, theysaid.

Till January 29, the output was 56.24 million tonnes,and aggregate production for the 11-month period of thecurrent fiscal (AprilJanuary) will be about 454 milliontonnes, the sources said.

Coal India is targeting an output of 630-640 milliontonnes till March.

The world's largest miner has been registering robustgrowth since August 2020, as the nationwide lockdown began toease, when it recorded a 7.1 per cent on-year rise, followedby September (31 per cent rise), October (18 per cent) andNovember (3.4 per cent).

Total coal offtake for the Kolkata-headquarteredcompany in the first month of 2021 is expected to be 53.3million tonnes, resulting in a decline of about 5.5 per centas against the figure during the same period in 2020.

Coal demand from the power sector is on the rise, butwith 63 million-tonne of pithead stock, non-power sectorrequirement will also be crucial for the mining behemoth.

Demand for the dry fuel is set to revive in 2021 witha 3.8-per cent increase, according to a Moody's InvestorsService report.