Coal India's May sales driven sharply lower by slump in power demand

Coal India's sales fell 23.3% in May as utilities refrained from purchases amid record stockpiles and tepid demand because of a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Offtake by customers, such as power generators, fell to 39.95 million tonnes in May, down 23.3% year on year, though that represented a slight improvement from the 25.5% fall in April. May production fell 11.3% to 41.43 million tonnes, compared with a 10.9% fall the previous month. More than three quarters of the electricity generated in India is derived from coal, with Coal India - the world's largest coal miner - accounting for more than four fifths of India's domestic production.

Power generation fell 14.3% in May and demand for the current financial year is expected to fall for the first time in at least 36 years. India has also ramped up electricity generation from non-fossil fuel sources at the expense of coal-fired generation over the past two months, further dampening coal demand.

State-run Coal India and the federal coal ministry have been pushing electricity generators to keep buying coal even though utilities' stocks and miners' inventories are at record highs.