India’s Ministry of Coal has proposed linking the domestic price of coking coal to the landed price of imports, to facilitate a large volume of inward shipments, a ministry statement said on Wednesday, December 8.
According to government officials, import parity-based pricing for domestic coal will bridge the differential between the current lower price of domestic dry fuel for steel mills and the higher landed cost of imports, and with the narrower price differential more volumes of imports are likely to come into the country.
An inter-ministerial committee of the government has proposed such import parity pricing for domestic coking coal, factoring in quality parameters, officials said.
Total Indian coking coal imports in 2020-21 came to around 52 million mt, meeting about 80 percent of demand of domestic steel mills.