Coking coal import increases to 43.53 million tonne.

KOLKATA: The country's coking coal import increased to 43.53 million tonnes (mt) from 38.83 mt during the period April 2017 – February 2018, a jump of 12.10% over same period last year, according to the junction, a leading e-commerce company. The trend highlights India’s dependence on imported coking coal that has been the concern for steel and power sectors. These sectors essentially depend on low ash content coal, which is not abundant in India. Low ash coal, which is used in blast furnaces and Basic oxygen furnaces of steel plants is thus largely imported from Indonesia, Australia, and South Africa. However, the fluctuations in prices of imported coking coal often eat into the profit margin of steel industry players. Given the problem, the steel industry has been groping for a dependable solution to meet the growing demand for coking coal. To address the issue a day-long workshop was jointly organized by Steel Authority of India Limited and Indian Institute of Metals in Kolkata on Tuesday. The workshop titled - Coking Coal for Indian Steel Industry: Issues and Challenges, touched upon the issues and challenges pertaining to coking coal in the steel industry for drawing the attention of policymakers. Over 100 industry participants presented their ideas for augmenting supplies of Coking & Metallurgical Coal to the Steel Sector by improved coal washing. The workshop also focused on challenges in making quality coke to suit large capacity blast furnaces, and on the process development and blending in coal & coke making to enhance indigenous coking coal supply through beneficiation. 

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com