Indian government-run steel producer Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) will undertake a trial import of coking coal from Mongolia, according to industry and company sources on Thursday, May 15.
They said that the trial cargo would consist of one metric ton but no information is available on how it will transported from landlocked Mongolia to India.
The option of transporting the cargo through China is under consideration and, if this proves to be viable logistically, SAIL could be looking at sourcing an estimated 75,000 mt of coking coal from Mongolia on a yearly basis.
This is in line with the aim to reduce dependency on Australia, which accounts for more than half of India’s total annual requirement of coking coal.
In recent months, the Indian government has been actively exploring options of sourcing this critical steelmaking input from Mongolia. Late last year, an Indian delegation of government officials visited Mongolia to examine infrastructure and logistical facilities for importing coking coal from the landlocked nation.
The Indian government had also proposed forming a consortium of state-run coal mining, railway, infrastructure and engineering consultancy companies to undertake turnkey projects in Mongolia and build necessary logistics and infrastructure to import coking coal for Indian steel companies.
