India's import of coking coal from Russia's far eastern region would increase significantly in the coming months, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday, adding that the Indian steel companies have already started testing samples of Russian coal.
The statement was made during Pradhan's meeting with a Russian delegation led by Leonid Petukhov, the CEO of Russia's Far East Investment and Export Agency, in New Delhi.
The discussions during the meeting centered around further developing India's economic linkages with the Russian Far East, particularly through sourcing of metallurgical or coking coal, development of infrastructure of the region's ports, connectivity of these ports with Russian mining locations, and improvements in evacuation infrastructure, as per a release by the Ministry of Steel.
"The Minister stated that offtake of coal from Far East Russia can grow as the coking coal from Far East Russia becomes more attractive from the point of view of price, ease of availability, connectivity to the ports and sea transport," the release read.
"Pradhan thanked the representatives from Far East Russia Investment and Export Agency for visiting India and expressed confidence that the coming months will see a significant increase in import of coking coal for Indian steel industry from Far East Russia," it added.
India currently imports more than 50 million tonnes of coking coal per annum. In view of the huge opportunity offered by the Russian Far East to attract Indian investments, the Indian government had extended a USD 1 billion line of credit to Russia earlier this year. This line of credit can be used for further economic linkages with the Russian Far East including the development of evacuation infrastructure and logistics in the region.