Coal India's production during the current quarter is projected at 184.10 million tonne (MT), according to a company report.
This will be a rise of 4.4 per cent as against 176.37 MT the company produced in January-March, 2016-17.
The production for the full financial year is projected at 568.02 MT, up 2.5 per cent from last year, the report said.
It said the June quarter saw a negative growth 5.4 per cent at 118.84 MT as against 125.67 MT in the year-ago quarter.
In the second quarter, the production was up 8.3 per cent at 113.04 and in the following three-month period, it reached 152.04 MT, registering a growth of 2.9 per cent.
"The negative growth in the first quarter was witnessed due to lack of demand," Coal India Chairman and MD Gopal Singh said.
He emphasised there is no shortage of coal in the country and that there is enough coal for everyone.
There is not even lack of demand, he said while maintaining that supply should be the focus area because if it improves, problem related to coal supplies to plants at long distances can be overcome.
He said the modes of transporting coal are doing well, and developing them will improve supplies further.
Railway is supplying at its best, he said. "320 rakes a day, 280 to just power sector." Coal Minister Piyush Goyal had informed Lok Sabha yesterday that the dispatch through road during April-October increased by 12 MT over the dispatch of 81 MT in the corresponding period of 2016-17.
The report further said the offtake during the current quarter is projected at 159.07 MT, up 5 per cent as against 151.54 MT in the year-ago period. The dispatch to power sector is expected at 121.95 MT, up 3.5 per cent from January-March last year.
Dispatch to non-power sector during the said quarter is projected at 37.12 MT as against 33.37 MT.
At the end of 2017-18, the total offtake is projected at 580.50 MT as compared to 543.32 MT in 2016-17. The dispatch to power sector is projected at 454.30 MT as against 425.42 MT. Dispatch to non-power sector is seen higher 7 per cent at 126.20 MT.
The position of CIL's coal stock was 38.611 MT as on March 1, 2018. It is expected to be at 54.83 MT on April 1.
"Our priority will be to 100 per liquidate the stock in the next three-four months," Singh said.
