India can source almost 50 percent of its total coking coal imports from Russia, according to an official with Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL).
He said that with India’s high coking coal import dependency of 80 percent to meet its estimated annual demand of 54 million mt, Russia can supply as much as 50 percent of total imports while balance could be sourced from traditional countries like South Africa, Indonesia, Canada and the US.
“Indian government has taken a far sighted decision to encourage sourcing of coking coal from Russia. This will make cost effective blending for making of metallurgical coke,” V R Sharma, managing director, JSPL said.
“It will reduce per ton cost of steel production since Russia is geographically closer than many of the current sourcing countries,” he said.
He commented on the recent decision of the Indian Cabinet of Minister approving a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between its ministry of steel and its Russian counterpart to increase collaboration in sourcing of coking coal from the latter country.