Coal news and updates

SAIL’s coking coal import to touch 18 mt by FY18

November 25: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL’s) coking coal imports would rise to 18 million tons per annum (mtpa) by 2017-18 from 12-13 mt at present as it expands its steelmaking capacity to 24 mtpa, a senior company official told ICMW on the sidelines of of 8th Logistics Colloquium organised by CII eastern region in Kolkata.

The company has set the ball rolling to work on Vision 2020 for achieving 50-60 mt of production by 2020, which would be approximately 30% of the Indian steel industry market share.

“This would require import of around 35 mt of coking coal to meet the enhanced production levels,” the official said.

SAIL also imports around 1 mt of limestone and exports around 0.5 mt of steel.

“Exports would increase to 2 mt as production capacity expands,” the official said adding Indian ports also need to expand capacity and modernise cargo handling operations to meet the demand.

Currently, SAIL mainly uses ports in the east – Vizag to Haldia – to procure raw materials. The company is looking at operating in other ports to meet its future demand.

“Flexibility, modernisation to handle bulk cargo and last mile connectivity will be the issues that need to be taken into account to determine usage of a particular port,” the official added.