State-owned miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) registered a moderate rise in first-half fiscal (April-September) sales, thanks to higher supplies to power plants, helping offset a steep fall in prices at electronic auctions.
Net sales rose 5% from the same period last fiscal to 630.51 billion rupees ($7.6 billion) from April to September; Q2 net sales rose 9% to 299.78 billion rupees, according to the company's quarterly report.
During the first half, coal sales under the Fuel Supply Agreement (FSA) increased 9% year on year to 322.17 million tonnes, and e-auction sales inched higher by 2% on the year to 31.91 million tonnes.
The overall offtake increased 8.6% to 360.7 million tonnes from 332 million tonnes in H1 FY23. Supplies to the power sector rose 1% over the period.
Over the half fiscal, the average FSA sales price stood at 1,538.86 rupees/t, an 8% rise from the same period in FY23, but that for e-auction sales slumped 33% on the year to 3,293.64 rupees/t.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBIDTA) for H1 dipped 4% year on year to 201.25 billion rupees, while Q2's EBIDTA jumped 11% to 92.21 billion rupees.
The company's coal production jumped 11.3% year on year to 332.9 million tonnes in H1 FY24. The major share of production came from MCL (89.6 million tonnes) followed by SECL (77.8 million tonnes). The highest growth in production was registered by SECL at 22.6% YoY, followed by ECL (17.2%) and WCL (17.1%).
CIL plans to expand its coal supplies year by year from 780 million tonnes in FY24 to 1.055 billion tonnes by FY28. To achieve the FY24 target of 780 million tonnes, the company needs to maintain a growth rate of 10% year-on-year in the remaining months of the fiscal year.
(Writing by Alex Guo Editing by Harry Huo)
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