An Indian delegation of government officials will visit Mongolia later this month to explore logistical and infrastructural options for importing coking coal from the land-locked country, a government official said on Wednesday, October 2.
“We are looking at the possibility of importing coking coal from Mongolia. A business delegation went to the country for preliminary discussions and this will be followed up by a visit of Indian officials this month,” secretary of the ministry of steel, Sandeep Poundrik, said in a statement.
Earlier this year, the Indian government had proposed forming a consortium of state-run coal mining, railway, infrastructure and engineering consultancy companies to undertake turnkey projects in Mongolia and build the necessary logistics and infrastructure to import coking coal for Indian steel companies.
It is felt that, Mongolia being landlocked, there are infrastructure challenges in terms of shipping coking coal from the country to India, and exports of coking coal from the country are dependent on routes, infrastructure and logistical support from Russia and China.