Indian government-run companies Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), NMDC Limited and Metallurgical Engineering Consultants (Mecon) will open respective offices in Dubai to act as a base to scout for sourcing steelmaking raw materials from across the world, secretary of the ministry of steel, Sandip Poundrik, said in a statement on Monday, June 23.
Government-run manganese miner MOIL Limited would also shortly set up an office in Dubai, he added.
Even though there is enough domestic output of iron ore, the country needs to increase the supplies of coking coal, manganese and limestone and the idea is to explore reserves in other countries to meet the domestic shortfall, Poundrik said. He added that Dubai has been chosen for government companies to set up offices because a large part of the African market is controlled from there.
Among Gulf countries, Oman has a sizeable quantity of limestone reserves which again is a key steelmaking raw material, Poundrik added.