India's coking coal imports surge to 10-year high, shipments from Russia up 200%: Report

India imported 58 million tonnes (mt) of coking coal, a key feedstock in steel making, in fiscal year 2023-24, a report said. This is the highest amount of coking coal imported by the country in the last 10 years.

The surge was driven by high demand from the steel industry, The Hindu Businessline report pointed out. Year-on-year, the shipments increased by 7% as compared to 54.3 mt in FY23. As against the 10-year ago period, the imports have gone up by 20%.

The jump in coking coal imports coincides with the increase in India’s steel production output. The production increased by 8.4% year-on-year in February this year, and by 12.9% during April 2023 to February 2024 as compared to the year-ago period, as per the official data released last month.

Shipments from Russia up 200%

Russia, after being hit by Western sanctions following the start of the Ukraine war, has not only emerged as India’s top crude supplier, but its shipments of coking coal to the country have also multiplied manifold.

In FY24, Russia supplied 6.4 mt of coking coal to India, which is nearly 200% higher as compared to FY23, the Businessline report said, citing the data it accessed from various ministries and trade bodies.

As compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, the Russian imports have climbed by around 300% as it stood at 1.6 mt in FY19.

With the jump in imports from Russia, the country has moved ahead of Mozambique and Canada to emerge as India’s third largest supplier of coking coal. The total share of Russia in India’s coking coal imports has increased to 12% from 5% in FY23, the newspaper noted.

Meanwhile, Australia continues to occupy the top spot, as it accounted for 59% or 34.2 mt of the total coking coal imported by India during FY24. The United States is the second highest supplier with a share of 14%. It shipped 8.4 mt of coking coal to India during the fiscal year, the report added.