Coal e-Auction Prices Steady, mjunction Focuses on Global Expansion

Kolkata, Mar 3 (PTI) Auction prices of coal sold by Coal India remained flat sequentially during January-March quarter so far, despite an improvement in buyer participation, a senior official said on Monday.

There is no shortage of coal in the domestic market, with Coal India holding a pithead stock of over 80 million tonnes (MT) and power plants having a stock of 51 MT, he said.

"Coal auction prices remained muted and flat in the first two months (Jan-Feb 2025) of the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter which ended in December 2024. Several factors are at play, including demand," mjunction MD & CEO Vinaya Varma said on the sidelines of the 18th Indian Coal Markets Conference.

He said it is difficult to predict auction prices in the first quarter of the next fiscal (April-June) as they will depend on multiple factors.

However, buyer participation has increased, with 1,200 new companies registering for auctions since one of the firms ceased operations in December last year.

mjunction, a joint venture between Tata Steel Ltd and SAIL, which had lost significant business from Coal India after the miner began conducting most auctions through its in-house platform, has seen renewed activity.

"On average, mjunction auctions around 3 MT of coal every month, of which 2 MT are from Coal India since January this year," Varma said.

During October-December last year, Coal India auctioned 19.2 MT of coal, up by 3.5 MT year-on-year.

The average price realisation from the auctions stood at Rs 2,671 per tonne, down by Rs 650 per tonne from the previous year.

Coal India, facing glitches on its auction platform, floated fresh contracts for e-auction services. mjunction and MSTC have renewed their contracts from January this year for two years, extendable by another year.

Varma said mjunction is looking to expand its international business, with revenue contribution from international operations expected to double to 20 per cent of annual sales in the next two to three years.

"We are also exploring operations at GIFT City to overcome tax-related headwinds unless resolved," he said.