Is it true that India will continue to procure coking coal from Russia?

India’s Steel Minister, R P Singh, has given a hint that the Indian steel industry would continue to import coking coal from Russia. This is despite calls from the Western nations like the US, Canada and UK for sanctions on Russia. Coking Coal is one of the most important inputs for steel manufacture and accounts for nearly 20% of the cost of one tonne of steel. That is why steel prices remain so dependent on coking coal prices, which have spurted.

India’ s bulk of coal imports come from Australia and Russia is less than 8% of total coking coal imports. With Russia offering lower prices, India could double coking coal imports from Russia. Russia is currently India’s 6th largest supplier of coking coal. With local coal output back on track, India will be reducing dependence on foreign heating coal. However, there are not too many local substitutes for imported coking coal and India has no choice.