India Engages with Russia to Source Coking Coal

New Delhi, Nov 26 () India is in talks with Russia to source coking coal as part of large efforts to reduce dependence few exporting countries like Australia, the US and Canada, according to sources.

In this regard a meeting was also held here on Tuesday in which Union Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan along with members of the domestic steel and mining industry met a delegation of Russian officials and industry players, official sources said.

The meeting comes a month after Pradhan’s visit to Moscow in August where he along with representatives of top Indian steel companies had met with a large number of Russian coking coal suppliers and steel companies.

Coking coal is a key raw material in steel production.

During the meeting, which was attended by representatives of companies like Adani Group, Hindalco, JSW Steel, JSPL, Tata Power, RINL, SAIL, Coal India among others, the minister apprised the Russian delegation about the opportunities in the growing Indian steel sector.

India imports more than 50 million tonne of coking coal.

The minister informed the Russian delegation that if India gets quality coking coal at competitive rates, including logistic cost, it would like to diversify its sources of raw material.

The minister also asked the delegation to invest in developing inland and port logistics for the Far East Russia, which will significantly reduce the current cost of transport and logistics.

He also offered India’s support in developing these facilities for the mutual benefit of both our nations.

Steel majors SAIL and JSW Steel informed the delegation that at present they bring in coking coal from Australia, the US, Canada and Mozambique and expressed their intention to place an offtake order of 2.5 MT to 2.7 MT in the next fiscal if the coal is offered at competitive prices.

Meanwhile, the steel ministry in a release said that Pradhan met Russian representatives from Far East Russia, including Far East Russia Investment and Export Agency CEO Leonid Petukov here on Tuesday.

Discussions centred around further developing economic linkages with Far East Russia, particularly through sourcing of metallurgical or coking coal, development of infrastructure of Far East Russia ports and connectivity of these ports with Russian mining locations, and improvements in evacuation infrastructure, it said.

In view of huge opportunity offered by the Far East Russia to attract Indian investments, the Government of India earlier extended a USD 1 billion line of credit to Russia.

This line of credit can be used for furthering economic linkages with Far East Russia, including development of evacuation infrastructure and logistics in the Far East Russia, the ministry stated.

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Source: BI

Image Courtesy:The Balance

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