In a workshop on “Coking Coal Strategy for Indian Steel Sector”organised by the Ministry of Coal, Coal India Limited (CIL) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), it was informed that there has been increase in import of coking coal in the last few years although domestic coking coal production increased to 51.7 million tonne (mt).
During the first quarter of 2022-23, the growth in coking coal production stood at 26 per cent. Further, CIL plans to add nine new coking coal washeries having capacity of 30 mt. It was highlighted that the steel sector needs 60 mt coking coal, 90 per cent of which is met through imports. The Ministry of Coal has initiated working on a strategy for having domestic coal use in blast furnaces and washeries and increase domestic coal blending to 25-35 per cent. Further, it was suggested increase in consumption and scrap generation as short-term strategy and four-time production increase in the longer-term for lowering dependence on iron ore and coking coal.