Coal India Ltd. (CIL) increased its production of coking coal by 17.2% y-o-y to 54.6 million tonnes (MT) in 2022–23. The state-owned miner reported in a statement that during the previous 2021–2022 fiscal year, it produced 46.6 MT of coking coal. "There was a massive 8 MT quantum leap. This is significant since the Ministry of Coal has ordered CIL to increase this coal's output to 105
MT by 2030 in an effort to decrease imports and foreign exchange outlays.
The combined output of subsidiary firms Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) and Central Coal Fields (CCL) accounted for nearly the entire 54.3 MT in 2022–2023. CCL contributed 20.6 MT to the FY23 production of BCCL, which was close to 33.7 MT. An essential feedstock in the production of steel is coking coal. Because there aren't many mineable reserves in India, and because the quality isn't good enough for direct use in steel production, washing is required.
56 MT of coking coal was imported during FY23, which is 1.1 MT less than the 57.1 MT imported during FY22. By 2030, CIL plans to produce 12 MT of washed coking coal with an ash level of 18–19% annually. CIL has restored three ancient coal washeries and opened two new ones. Additionally, it intends to add 9 additional washeries at a cost of roughly Rs 4,000 crore. At the moment, the company runs 11 washeries for coking coal.
