Coal India Ltd has revised its production target down to 650-660 million tonne for FY 2020-21 in the wake of the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said on Saturday. The miner had earlier set a production target of 710 million tonne for 2020-21 fiscal.
On August 3, the coal major posted a 3 per cent decline in production to 37.36 million tonnes in July 2020. Earlier, the numbers stood at Rs 38.51 million tonnes for the same period a year ago.
According to Pramod Agrawal, Chairman and Managing Director, Coal India, “COVID-19 pandemic has affected demand for coal. However, demand has started to pick up now as the industries have commenced operations.”
“Given the situation, we are hopeful to end the year with 650-660 million tonne of production,” he said at a webinar organised by Bharat Chamber of Commerce.
The miner is witnessing a 7-8 per cent growth in demand in August, he said.
The Maharatna PSU had produced 602 million tonne of coal last year as against a target of 630 million tonne.