Indian state-run steel producer Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has initiated negotiations to explore opportunities of importing coking coal from Russia, industry sources said on Thursday, June 22.
The sources said that, as in the case of imports of crude oil from Russia, SAIL is looking at supplies of coking coal from Russia at heavily discounted rates.
However, in the wake of the sanctions imposed against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, critical issues like payment systems, insurance and availability of shipping services would need to be hammered out before supply contracts could be concluded, the sources said.
It might be noted that domestic steel major Tata Steel, which had been importing Russian coking coal in recent years, announced a halt to any new transactions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
