Coal India Ltd coking coal output grows 17% to 56.6 MT in FY23

New Delhi: The production of coking coal by Coal India Ltd (CIL) rose by 17.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 54.6 million tonnes (MT) in 2022-23.

The state-owned miner had produced 46.6 MT coking coal during the preceding 2021-22 fiscal, it said in a statement.

"The quantum leap was a whopping 8 MT. This assumes significance at a time when the Ministry of Coal has asked CIL to elevate the output of this category of coal to 105 MT by 2030 in a bid to reduce its imports and forex outgo," it said Subsidiary companies Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) and Central Coal Fields (CCL) together accounted for almost the entire output of 54.3 MT in 2022-23.

While BCCL produced nearly 33.7 MT during FY23, CCL contributed 20.6 MT.

Coking coal is an important feedstock in steel making. In India, its mineable reserves are scarce and also its quality inadequacy for direct use in steel making necessitates washing.

During FY23 coking coal imports were to the tune of 56 MT, down by 1.1 MT compared to 57.1 MT in FY22.

CIL has set out a roadmap to produce 12 MT per annum of washed coking coal by 2030 with ash content of 18-19 per cent.

CIL has commissioned 2 new coking coal washeries and renovated 3 older ones. It also plans to add 9 more washeries at an investment of around Rs 4,000 crore.

The company currently operates 11 coking coal washeries.