In an effort to help the Indian steel makers, the Coal Ministry in the Government of India plans to auction six Coking Coal blocks to steel producers in the country for captive use.
Coking Coal is deficit in the country that requires the steel makers to import the coal. With the production of steel going up in the country, imports of Coking Coal also are substantially high. During FY17, around 47.36 MT of Coking Coal was imported into the country. In the previous fiscal, FY16, the imports were at around 47.74 MnT.
Coal India Limited (CIL) had produced 55.22 MnT of Coking Coal in FY17. The coal major has targeted production of 59.77 MnT of Coking Coal in the current fiscal. CIL also has set a production target of 72.30 MnT of Coking Coal for FY20.
In the meantime, CIL is learnt to have discussed acquisition of Coking Coal mines in Australia with the Australian government. The discussions followed after that government had put on offer a few Coking Coal blocks. However, the discussions were at a very preliminary stage.
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