The Indian government will continue to push for higher coal production in the 2017-2018 fiscal year despite sluggish demand, piling up of pithead stocks and missed targets. Indications available from the federal Ministry of Coal indicate that the latter will set a production target of 660 million metric tons (mt) during 2017-2018 for Coal India Ltd. (CIL), which accounts for more than 80% of domestic supply.
The production target for next year would be about 15% higher than CIL’s expected coal production during 2016-2017. During the period April-December 2016, the miner produced 377.7 million mt of coal, compared to the 417 million mt target set by the Ministry of Coal, as per official data released. It is expected to close in the current fiscal year (at the end of March) with a production of 582 million mt against a government target of 598 million mt.
