Non-power Industries Urge Singareni to Reduce Coal Price

Hyderabad: The managements of non-power industries today appealed to Singareni Corporation that it needs to reduce the price of its coal if coal-based industries like cement, sponge, iron, ceramics and pharma are to survive in today's difficult market conditions. "Especially in view of the future survival of our industries and the future of thousands of local small employees who depend on us, coal has to be imported from abroad or from other coal companies at a lower price,” they said. For the first time, representatives from over 60 companies participated in the non-electricity consumer meeting held by the company at Singareni Bhavan on Thursday along with GMs, quality GMs and quality in-charges of all areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Company CMD N Balaram sought to know that out of the 70 million tonnes of coal produced by the Singareni last year, nine million tonnes were purchased by the non-power consumers and the reasons for taking only five million tonnes this year. The representatives of all the companies said they had been associated with Singareni for decades and added that there was also a possibility of taking the coal from Singareni without any transportation problems. “But, we are already facing difficult situations in the competitive market and since Singareni coal prices are high, we will have to turn to the coal India and foreign coal which is available at a lower price. Even though coal is being purchased from far-flung areas, it is available at a lower rate as compared to Singareni price. If the price of coal is reduced, we are ready to accept it from Singareni," they said.

CMD N Balaram issued instructions to the concerned officials on the issues raised in the matter of quality of coal. Strict measures are being taken in terms of quality, he said, adding all necessary measures to protect the interests of the consumers and Singareni market will be discussed and an appropriate decision will be taken.

He assured that another meeting would be convened soon. Directors D Satyanarayana Rao (E&M), LV Suryanarayana (Operations), Executive Coal Movement SDM Subhani, GM (Marketing) D Ravi Prasad, GM (CPP) Manohar, OSD (Marketing) NV Rajasekhara Rao, DGMs Surender Raju, Srivastava, Additional Manager Mahender Reddy and others participated in the meeting. The Representatives from Nava Bharat, ITC, Orient Cement, Ultra Tech Cement, Divis Laboratories, Hetero Pharma, Sirpur Paper Mills and other companies were present.