(Reuters) – Coal India Ltd will increase supplies to industries, the world’s largest coal miner said on Wednesday as fuel inventories at utilities run by coal increased by over two-fifths over the last one year.
The state-run miner has historically prioritised supplies to power plants, sometimes at the expense of the non-regulated sector – which includes industries such as aluminium smelters and steel mills.
This year, Coal India is hopeful of increasing supplies to the power sector by 4% to 610 million tonnes, as it targets production of 780 million tonnes.
“With 610 million tonnes programmed to meet the power sector’s demand, availability of coal for the non-regulated sector increases sizeably,” the company said in a statement.
The miner could raise supplies to the industries by as much as 170 million tonnes during fiscal year 2024, compared with 108 million tonnes in 2022/23 – which was the lowest in at least four years.
“Even after compensating for any unforeseen demand surge from thermal power plants, coal accessibility to the non-regulated sector would be much better in 2023/24,” the company added.
A rise in sales to industries typically offers higher margins than its mainstay long-term contracts with utilities, and could help the company add to its higher profits over the last few quarters.
Higher profits have helped the miner’s shares climb 17.3% in the last one year, despite a 1.5% fall in the broader Nifty index during the same period.
The company improved its supplies to utilities during fiscal year 2022/23 due to record production, helping India recover from a crippling coal shortage that had caused widespread power cuts in April.
Coal accounts for 73% of India’s power generation and utilities account for more than 75% of its use. India is the world’s second-largest producer, consumer, and importer of the fossil fuel.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
