Indian steelmakers seek coking coal supplies

The availability of local coking coal for steel plants in India is lower than their total requirements of coking coal, according to a statement released by the Indian government.  Therefore, India's steel plants are obliged to import coking coal in order to meet their needs. However, as per information given by the major steel plants, the capacity utilization of steel plants has not been affected by shortage of coking coal.  

As per projections made by respective companies, the estimated demand for coking coal from the major steel  producers during the fiscal year 2010-11 in the country is as follows:

 *  Metcoke - Ispat Industries Limited does not use coking coal but imports metallurgical coke instead.

During 2008-09, the domestic steel industry consumed about 40.84 million metric tons of coking coal, of which 16.84 million metric tons was local coking coal while 24 million metric tons consisted of imports, according to the Indian Ministry of Coal.

In order to meet the demand for coking coal in the country, 11 coking coal blocks having geological reserves of about 1.47 billion metric tons have been allotted to different steel companies for captive mining. The Indian government is also encouraging the formation of joint ventures between steel companies to acquire coking coal blocks abroad.  A joint venture company named International Coal Ventures Limited (ICVL) with the participation of Coal India Limited, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) and NMDC Limited  has been formed for acquisition of coal assets abroad. SAIL has also formed a joint venture company with Tata Steel for acquisition and development of coal blocks in the country.