India has imposed import restrictions on low ash metallurgical coke for six months from January 1 to June 30, 2025, according to a government notification.
The move aims to protect domestic producers from rising imports, which have surged by over 61 percent in the past four years.
According to the order issued through the notification from Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), country-specific quotas have been set aggregating at 713,583 mt for each of the first two quarters (January-March and April-June) of 2025.
Import of metallurgical coke with ash content above 18 percent, considered poor quality for steelmaking - remains unrestricted.
The country-wise restrictions for 6 months are Poland – 506,336 mt, Colombia – 249,771 mt, Japan - 209,980 mt, Russia - 89,182 mt, Switzerland – 81,774 mt, China - 78,646 mt, Indonesia – 66,364 mt, Australia - 51,276 mt, Singapore - 46,478 mt and others – 45,662 mt.
These imports will be subject to further restrictions and permitted through electronic data interchange ports only to facilitate real time monitoring of import quotas, the notification said.
As SteelOrbis reported earlier, in the mid-December at least 300,000 mt of ex-Indonesia coke were traded to India at $255/mt FOB for shipment in January-March before the announcement of the quotas. Chinese and Indonesian coke suppliers will be impacted the most.
