Indian imports of steel-making coal from Russia have surged nearly threefold over the past three years, reaching approximately 15.1 million tonnes in 2023-24, according to a research firm.
In 2023-24, imports from Russia reached 15.1 million tonnes — fully 21 percent of India's total imports of 73.2 million tonnes.
In the 2021-22 financial year, India imported 65.6 million tonnes of metallurgical coal, with 5.1 million tonnes coming from from Russia — eight percent of the total.
But in 2022-23, Russian imports had risen to 11.3 million tonnes, making up 16 percent of India's total metallurgical coal imports of 69.9 million tonnes.
The rising coal trade with Russia was accompanied by a fall in purchases from Australia.
In the most recent fiscal year, imports of coking coal from Australia slumped to 40.4 million tonnes, a market share of 55 percent.
That followed a previous fall in Australian imports in 2021-22 to 42.2 million tonnes, a drop in market share to 60 percent.
In an interview with PTI, Amarendu Prakash, the Chairman of SAIL, mentioned that the company procured approximately eight shipments of coking coal, each consisting of 75,000 tonnes and totalling 600,000 tonnes, from Russia during the first two quarters of FY24.
Tata Steel also experimented with Russian coking coal in their steel production process.
Metallurgical coal, known as coking coal, is processed into coke to fuel blast furnaces at steel foundries.
Coke plays a crucial role as both a fuel and a reactant, infusing iron with carbon to make steel. Fluctuations in coking coal prices can have a direct influence on steel prices.