New Delhi: India planning state-backed consortium to import coking coal

New Delhi: India is planning to form a consortium of state companies to facilitate imports of coke carbon and help national steelmakers overcome the shortage, two government sources said. Hit by short supply and high prices of cokeable carbon, India’s major iron ore companies have requested the government to help increase supplies of the key raw material for steelmaking. India’s steel manufacturing companies consume about 70 million metric tons of coked carbon per year, and imports account for about 85 percent of the country’s total needs. Steel mills in India, the world’s second-largest producer of crude steel, are struggling with Australia’s unstable supply of coke carbon, which typically represents more than half of India’s annual imports. Apart from Australia, India imports coked carbon from other countries including the United States, Indonesia and Canada. He said the consortium of companies backed by the government will facilitate the import of coke by contacting suppliers from different countries, negotiating prices and other terms of import agreements and finally selling the imported raw material to local steel mills. Source. , The sources with direct knowledge of the matter asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The name of any company that may be involved was not disclosed. The consortium also sought to diversify India’s imports of cokeable carbon. “The idea is to look beyond Australia to get the best price and diversify the way of imports,” one source said. The federal steel ministry did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. In November, Australia ensured continued supply of cokeable carbon to India, but supply remains irregular. Sources said India will get more co-eligible carbon from Russia to compensate for sporadic Australian supplies. Another advantage of buying from Moscow, he said, is that Russian supplies are cheaper than Australian cargo. Before the consortium is formed, the government will soon formally resume talks with Mongolia to obtain co-eligible carbon, the sources said. Sources said Mongolia, a country rich in mineral resources and neighboring China and Russia and which does not have access to the sea, will still have to find a viable route to transport raw materials to India.