Coal India Ltd has reported a sharp fall in output for April, even as India’s electricity system has been under intense pressure from a searing early-summer surge in demand. The state-owned miner produced 56.1 million tonnes of coal during the month, down 9.7 per cent from a year earlier, according to provisional figures filed with the stock exchanges. Its offtake also slipped, declining 2 per cent to 63.2 million tonnes.

The setback comes at an awkward time for the power sector. India’s peak electricity demand touched 255.85 gigawatts on Monday, after reaching an all-time high of 256.11 gigawatts just days earlier, as heatwave conditions drove up use of air conditioners and other cooling equipment across northern, central and western regions. Business Standard reported that the country met the record load without a supply shortfall, with solar generation playing an important role in balancing the system.

Coal remains the mainstay of India’s electricity mix, accounting for more than 70 per cent of generation, and Coal India is by far the largest domestic supplier. The company accounts for roughly 80 per cent of India’s total coal output and about three-quarters of coal-based power generation, making any production weakness closely watched by utilities and industrial consumers alike. The company did not explain the April decline.

The fall was not uniform across the group’s subsidiaries. Eastern Coalfields, Bharat Coking Coal and Western Coalfields recorded lower production, while South Eastern Coalfields and Central Coalfields posted growth. Even so, the broader trend has become harder for the miner to ignore: Coal India’s output for the full year ended March slipped 1.7 per cent to 768.1 million tonnes from 781.1 million tonnes a year earlier, according to the company’s latest disclosures.

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Source: Noah Wire Services