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Government update on availability of coking coal in India

Mr A Sai Prathap minister of state in the ministry of steel said that due to limited production of coking coal in the country and its low quality, domestic steel industry has to depend upon imported coking coal to fulfill its requirement. During 2009-10, indigenous raw coking coal supply to steel and coke oven units was about 16.48 million tonnes.

To fulfill the remaining requirement of coking coal, about 23.47 million tonnes of coking coal was imported by steel units during 2009-10. Besides, about 2.2 million tonnes of met coke was also imported.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha he said that steel companies import coking coal from various countries to fulfill their requirements on commercial basis. The government is also encouraging the formation of joint ventures between steel companies to acquire coking coal assets abroad.

A Special Purpose Vehicle namely International Coal Ventures Limited with participation of Coal India Limited, Steel Authority of India Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited and NMDC Limited has been formed for acquisition of coal assets abroad.