India imported 57.16 million tonnes of coking coal in 2021-22
An MoU was signed on 14 Oct 2021 between the Ministry of Steel and the Russian Ministry of Energy on cooperation in coking coal used in steel making, Minister of Coal Pralhad Joshi has told Rajya Sabha on 12 Dec 2022.
With a view to diversify the new geographical locations, SAIL has also signed an agreement on 24 Aug 2022 with a Russian Miner for supply of industry trial shipment of coking coal.
At present, SAIL is procuring imported Metallurgical Coal under long term agreements from Australia, the United States of America, Indonesia and Mozambique.
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has also long-term agreements with various global suppliers from countries such as Australia, Canada, the USA, Indonesia and Mozambique.
Coking coal is imported mostly for steel industry due to limited availability in the country, he said.
Giving details, Joshi said India’s coking coal imports have increased to 57.16 million tonnes in 2021-22 from 51.19 million tonnes in 2020-21 and 51.83 million tonnes in 2019-2020,
Coking coal being an important cost component of steel manufacturing, the recent increase in international price of coking coal has impacted the cost structure of steel production, he explained.
Use of domestic non-coking coal in a steel plant is limited to coal-based DR plant technology, he added.
He also gave an update on domestic coal production, which was 778.19 million tonnes in the year 2021-2022, up from 716.083 MT in the year 2020-2021.
Further, in the current financial year (up to Nov’22), the country has produced about 524.2 MT of coal, an increase of 17% on about 448.1 MT during the same period of last year.
In 2022-23 (up to Nov’22), the supply-dispatch of domestic coal in the country was 558.244 MT (provisional).
The Minister gave details of action taken by the Government to enhance the production of coal in the country.
These are:
Enhanced coal production from mines of Coal India Ltd (CIL) – both in capacity of existing mines as well as operationalization of new mines/projects.
Enhanced production from commercial coal mines.
Enactment of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 for enabling captive mines owners (other than atomic minerals) to sell up to 50% of their annual mineral (including coal) production in the open market after meeting the requirement of the end use plant.
Overall improvement of coal logistics by way of First Mile Connectivity, Rail Projects and integrated logistics movement of coal.
Induction of enhanced Mass Production Technologies and enhancing efficiency of mines with introduction of Digitization of operation and introduction of ERP.
Single Window Clearance system for facilitation of clearances for early operationalization of coal mines. fiinews.com
