India leaning toward to continue coking coal import from Russia, says Steel Minister
NEW DELHI: India is leaning toward continuing to import coking coal from Russia, the steel minister said on Sunday, seeming to buck a global trend to shun Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. "We are moving in the direction of importing coking coal from Russia," Ramchandra Prasad Singh told a conference in New Delhi.
India plans to double imports of Russian coking coal, a key ingredient in making steel, the minister said. He said the country had imported 4.5 million tonnes but did not indicate the period he was referring to, Reuters reported.
Western countries and Japan have slapped unexpectedly heavy sanctions on the government of President Vladimir Putin and people associated with him. India, a major buyer of Russian goods from commodities to weapons, has abstained from several key United Nations votes condemning the February 24 invasion.
"Smooth supplies" from Russia of coking coal have been affected, Singh said, in an apparent reference to the war. He did not elaborate. Vessels carrying at least 1.06 million tonnes of coking coal, mainly used for steelmaking, and thermal coal used primarily for electricity generation, are set to deliver the fuel to Indian ports this month, the most since January 2020, data from consultancy Kpler showed.
Russia is India's sixth-largest supplier of coking and thermal coal, could start offering more competitive prices to Chinese and Indian buyers as European and other customers spurn Russia because of sanctions, traders say. The trade could also be boosted by a rouble-rupee trading arrangement, they said.
Moreover, the Steel minister highlighted the need to move towards green steel, saying the use of hydrogen in the iron ore and steel sector would help reduce coal imports.
He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has an ambitious vision on Hydrogen.
"Iron and steel industry will be big beneficiary as coal can be replaced by hydrogen and our dependency on import of coal also will reduce," he said.
Speaking during the day-long National Conference on 'Making India Atmanirbhar in Steel Role of Secondary Steel Sector', Singh said the suggestions from the industry will be considered and seamless, transparent and flexible process is the avowed aim of the Centre.
He said that industry has made great strides in production by moving from 22 million tonnes in 1991 to 120 million tonnes in 2021-22. He said that strategy needs to be devised to reach the target of 300 million tonnes by 2030 and 500 million tonnes by 2047.
