India and Mongolia are holding bilateral talks on importing high grade coking coal from Mongolia, India’s ministry of steel said in a statement on Friday, December 3.
The ministry said that Indian minister of steel Ram Chandra Prasad Singh met members of a Mongolian parliamentary delegation led by Gombojav Zadanshatar, chairman of the Parliament of Mongolia, in New Delhi and that discussions were held for the import of high grade coking coal from the land-locked nation.
“Both sides expressed their keenness to develop Mongolia as a reliable source of quality coking coal at a competitive price. This could be an important step for the Indian steel sector towards possibilities of raw material securitisation and price stability, in times of rising coking coal prices and creating alternative sources for this important raw material, overcoming supply constraints,” the ministry said.
India, which imports around 85 percent of coking coal for domestic steelmaking, had earlier this year signed a pact with Russia to source the critical steelmaking raw material and reduce dependency on traditional sourcing countries like Australia, Indonesia and South Africa.