Coal India to reach 1 billion tons production target

India's coal needs will probably reach 1.5 billion tons by 2030, and to meet this, the country needs to increase its production.

"The coal production forecast of 850-900 MT by the end of this fiscal year was realized due to the expected increase in production of Coal India Limited to reach the Coal Ministry's production target of 1 billion tons by Fy26 and 1.5 billion tons by Fy30," the officials said.

"As the demand from coal-based power plants remains high, shipments to the energy sector are likely to increase further. While imports have increased compared to last year, the government's attempts to increase domestic production will reduce dependence on imported coal in the medium-long term. International coal prices are expected to remain moderate in the near medium term due to soft global demand," they added.

India's coal production reached a new milestone of 698 million tons (mt), which is a 16% growth driven by a 15.2% y-o-y increase in the production of Indian Coal.

The total coal imports reached 191.82 mt with an increase of 25.6% y-o-y, and the imports were provided by coking coal.

International coal prices of major global benchmarks have started to cool over the past few months due to softening global demand.