State-owned Coal India Limited is absorbing rising input costs to protect consumers from higher coal prices, even as expenses for key inputs, such as explosives and industrial diesel, have surged sharply following the West Asia conflict.

The company said it has chosen not to pass on the increase, warning that doing so could trigger a cascading impact across sectors reliant on coal. It is also compensating contractors operating in its mines for higher diesel costs.

Prices of ammonium nitrate, a key component accounting for about 60 per cent of explosives used in opencast mining, have risen 44 per centto 72,750 per tonne as of April 1 from pre-war levels. This has pushed up the average cost of explosives by around 26 per cent to nearly 49,800 per tonne by end-March. Coal India's subsidiaries consume about 0.9 million tonnes of explosives annually. This entire cost is being absorbed by Coal India, the company said.

COAL IMPORTS DOWN

India's coal import dropped 8.5 per cent to 16.55 mt in February on record stockpile of domestic coal and firmness in seaborne prices. The country's coal import is poised to maintain a weak trend this month with domestic miners making efforts to liquidate stockpiles.

Source: ET Energyworld. Com 

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