Indian steelmaker Jindal Steel and Power will stop buying coking coal from Australia within three months, as the company has its own coal mines in the country, according to Reuters. This is seen as a move that could further soften commodity prices.
Reuters has quoted VR Sharma, deputy managing director of Jindal Steel, as saying that the company gets 50,000 mt of coking coal per month from its Mozambique mine and buys another 50,000 mt from Australia. Jindal Steel official said that the company's coking coal consumption will more than double to 2.6 million mt by 2016 as its capacity expands. About 80 percent of the coal will come from its mines abroad and it will buy the rest from the open market.