India’s steel mills supporting global met coal demand

Sumit Maitra

Global coking coal market is banking on continued demand from Indian steel sector in coming days, which they believe would continue to support demand.

India imports drop

India’s coking coal imports fell to 2.84 mt in June, down from 3.18 million tons (mt) in May, provisional data showed.

During the April-June period of the current fiscal coking coal imports by India fell 28.29 percent to 9.25 mt, according to provisional data with Steel Insights. Meanwhile, metallurgical coke import offers declined in July on low demand in China and India.

Sufficient supply in China and continuation of lockdown in some regions of India led to low demand and production. Onset of monsoons in India has also hampered production and supplies.

However, with government mostly in the unlock mode in India, demand and production is set to pick up by the Q3 FY21, according to analysts. This may lead to higher consumption of steel and steel making raw materials, they observed.

Metallurgical coke imports by India decreased by 56 percent to 372,076 tons during April-June quarter, compared to 849,381 tons in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal, according to data collected from 31 ports.

Global coking coal miners bank on India recovery

Global diversified mining major Anglo American Plc is hopeful of recovery and growth of Indian steel sector driving the market for metallurgical coal.