Despite India’s high import dependency on coking coal, no bids have been submitted for the four coking coal blocks put up for auction by the government, sources in the Indian government said on Monday, October 5.
The sources said that no Indian steel companies, which are mostly import-dependent for their coking coal requirements, submitted bids for any of the four blocks put up for auction and development by private miners.
According to inputs received by the government, domestic steel companies have stayed away from bidding for the four coal blocks as estimated capital costs for development of the blocks are too high and the steel producers are also not convinced about the suitability of the coal that will be available for their operational blast furnaces.
Indian coking coal imports in the fiscal year 2019-20 totaled 56 million mt, sourced primarily from Australia, with smaller volumes from Canada, the US and South Africa.