Coal India's volumes fail to pick up in May, earnings likely to decline

Coal India’s production and sales for May disappointed the Street, leading to over 3 per cent fall in its share price on Tuesday. Worse, the April and May figures, along with pricing and costs estimates, suggest FY21 earnings of India's largest coal mining company may see a significant decline.

With the start of some economic activity and a slight pick-up in power demand, some increase was expected in the company’s coal volumes in May. 

Coal India’s offtake for May, however, largely came at the levels seen in April, and was down 23.3 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Cumulatively, April-May saw the offtake declining