Coal India’s e-auction sales grow 52% in April-May

During the two months of this fiscal, the non-power sector primarily drove the upward trend accounting for 50% of the total booked quantity of 21.5 MT.

Demand from Coal India’s (CIL) e-auction sales have started looking up after it had dived down, when for most of the time last fiscal, the miner had to auction at a notified price for about six months to gain volumes in an effective short-of-demand market.

For the first two months this fiscal, the company posted 52.5% growth, in auction bookings with the total allocated quantity at 21.5 million tonne (MT), under the five auction windows, against 14.1 MT for the comparable period last fiscal.

Although both the fiscals have been reeling under the pandemic crisis, demand this fiscal has picked up, enabling CIL to garner 16% add-on over the notified price during April-May compared to 7% during the same period last fiscal.

During the two months of this fiscal, the non-power sector primarily drove the upward trend accounting for 50% of the total booked quantity of 21.5 MT.

Under exclusive auction for the non-power sector, booking was at 10.8 MT during the period, posting 77% growth against 6.1 MT booked during comparable period last fiscal . Power sector e-auction booking also grew 49% at 6.1 MT under ‘special forward auction’ meant exclusively for the said sector. Even allocation during April-May last fiscal under the special forward e-auction window was kept as low as 4.1 MT.

“Though there is a revival in supplies to power sector, our concern is that there is still a bit of vacillation in the demand. We hope it stabilises soon” a senior official of the company said.

Auction allocation under ‘spot auction’ window, where all coal consumers including coal traders could participate, also clocked 35% growth at 4.6 MT ending May. CIL scripted an all-time high of 124 MT in e-auction sales in FY21 posting 88% growth over the preceding year.

“Hopefully, if the demand regains stability we aim to surpass the last year’s mark with increased add-on over the notified price without letdown on supply commitment to power sector and non-power sector”, said the executive.