The authorities of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) in Parbatipur upazila under the district cut their coal price by Tk 5,680 per tonne in three phases in last six months as their coal sale dropped alarmingly against the imported coal, said mine officials.

Coal price was raised to Tk 13,680 from Tk 9,200 end of 2014.

"We have cut the price considering the buyers although coal production cost of Barapukuria is high. The last decision to cut coal price became effective on May 19. Now anyone can by our coal at Tk 8,000 per tonne," said Aminuzzaman, managing director (MD) of BCMCL.

Sale of coal has slightly gone up following the price reduction, he added. 

BCMCL officials said their sale dropped alarmingly as large quantities of coal imported from other countries including India, Indonesia and Malaysia are available at Tk 7,000-8,000 per tonne.

Coal price was first cut by Tk 2,680 on November 29 last year to cope with the lower prices of imported coal. Price again was cut by Tk 2,000 on December 25 as the response from the buyers specially the brickfield operators was little.

Finally they cut the coal price again by Tk 1,000 per tonne on May 19.

Posters with latest coal price were pasted everywhere in the district to disseminate the latest coal rate among the buyers.

Mine sources said Bangladesh Power Development Board (PDB) is the largest coal consumer of Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd for operating the 250MW coal fired power plant near the coalmine.

The power plant consumes 2,000 tonnes of coal daily.

The brickfields across the country are second largest coal consumers of BCMCL. But a large number of these brickfields bake their bricks with cheaper imported coal.

Meanwhile, the coal yard of BCMCL is currently stocked with over 2.50 lakh tonnes of coal against the usual capacity of two lakh tonnes.

"The daily production rate of the mine is nearly 4,000 tonnes while the average daily sale, excluding the amounts supplied to the PDB's power plant, is around 1,000 tonnes. And so, more and more coal is being added to the stock in the coal yard," said an official seeking anonymity.

Coalmine officials said the imported coal has high sulphur while the coal produced in Barapukuria contains less sulphur and it has high heating value.

Use of coal with high sulphur is not good for environment, said Md Aminuzzaman, MD of BCMCL.