Coal stocks at domestic power plants reached 18.205 million tonnes on October 10. The Coal Ministry said, “The stabilisation reflects coal supplies keeping pace with daily consumption at power plants.” Faster rake loading helped ease stress, as daily supply rose to 2.49 million tonnes, keeping power generation steady across many stations.
Aggregate coal stocks at domestic coal-based power plants stood at 18.205 million tonnes (MT) on October 10, against 18.932 MT on September 29. Of the 191 plants, 97 non-pithead and 10 pithead stations had stocks for up to five days, while another 69 plants had coal for 6-15 days, according to data issued by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
“The stabilisation reflects coal supplies keeping pace with daily consumption at power plants,” the Coal Ministry said, adding that supplies to vulnerable stations are being closely monitored.
The sharpest improvement has been in the speed at which inventories are falling. Coal stocks declined by about 7.28 MT in September, translating into an average daily depletion of 0.24 MT. In the first 10 days of October, the decline was limited to 0.56 MT, or about 0.06 MT a day — roughly one-fourth of September’s daily pace.
Stocks also rose on two days this month, by 0.024 MT on October 2 and 0.017 MT on October 10, indicating that supply has started matching or exceeding consumption on some days.
The turnaround has been driven by faster coal movement. Rakes loaded for the power sector averaged 469 a day between October 1 and 10, about 10% higher than September’s 426 rakes a day. Daily loading in October ranged between 447 and 482 rakes.
Higher railway movement has pushed actual coal supply to power plants to an average 2.49 MT a day in October, against 2.21 MT a day in September. More importantly, supply has remained above the October plan of 2.37 MT a day on nine of the first 10 days.
“The supply to the plants with critical stocks is being closely monitored, with requirement-based redistribution of coal to vulnerable stations to ensure adequate supplies and uninterrupted power generation,” the ministry said.
The improvement eases immediate pressure on power generators, but the large number of plants still operating with only a few days of coal means sustained movement will remain critical before inventories can rebuild meaningfully.