Coal India Ltd. posted the first decline in annual shipments in at least six years as demand from power producers weakened and its production was hit by heavy rains earlier in 2019. On a monthly basis, shipments rose 1.9% in December from last year to 53.63 million tons, the Kolkata-based miner said late Wednesday. India’s power generation from coal is poised to shrink in 2019 for the first time in at least 14 years. Further sapping India’s coal consumption is an industrial slowdown, which caused electricity use to slump for four consecutive months. Coal India’s production sank to a record low in September after some of its largest miners were flooded due to heavy rainfall in the monsoon season.

Source: Mint January 02, 2020 01:07 UTC