The 6.2 percent hike in coal prices by Coal India Limited (CIL) last month will not be applicable to coking coal, an official from India's Ministry of Coal said on Thursday, June 16.
The ministry official stated that, while the price hike is for all grades of coal and applicable to all consuming sectors, coking coal is exempted from the price increase considering India's high import dependency on coking coal requirements for the steel sector.
The government wants to avoid a situation where domestic coking coal prices will be higher than the prices of imported coking coal, in a global environment of falling coking coal pricing, he added.
CIL's wholly-owned subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), the country's sole supplier of coking coal, produced about 18 million mt per year in the previous financial year, while imports stood at 45 million mt and are forecast to rise to 180 million mt by 2025 if India is to achieve steel production of 300 million metric tons per year, the official added.