By Sudarshan Varadhan
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -State-run Coal India auctioned 3.2 million tonnes of coal exclusively for the non-power sector in November, a senior company official said, more than five times the volume auctioned a year earlier and about eight times the allocation in September.
Coal India had temporarily paused auctions of coal to non-power customers and reduced contracted supplies in October, as it prioritised supplying Indian utilities which were battling the worst coal shortage in years.
The average price in the auctions in November was higher than a year earlier and the previous exclusive auctions for non-power consumers such as aluminium smelters and cement manufacturers held in September, the official said.
The official declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media on the issue.
Non-power consumers account for about a quarter of India’s total coal consumption. India produces over 70% of its electricity using coal, and Coal India accounts for over four-fifths of the country’s output.
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by Jane Merriman and Jason Neely)
