Commodity Online
NEW DELHI: A special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been formed by the Union Ministry of Coal with the purpose of acquiring coal mines abroad, especially Indonesia.

The SPV consists of officials from its own ministry and public sector steel companies including Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd.

Santosh Bagrodia, Union Minister of State for Coal said that the Ministry had discussions with Indonesian government regarding acquiring mines. But the ministry has not set a target and timeframe, however, to go ahead with such proposals.

The government will also look at alternative source including African countries primarily South Africa where coal can be mined directly by importers.

Coking coal is an important ingredient for steelmaking which can not be substituted at all. Therefore, steel companies in India have been meeting all coking coal requirement through imports from Indonesia at volatile prices throughout the year.

Prices of coking coal have, in fact, jumped several times to around $275-$290 per tonne from $98 per tonne about a year ago.
Last year, India imported 22 million tonnes of coking coal out of total coal imports of 42 million tonnes. The government is making all efforts to ensure that the coal imports should not exceed 50 million tonnes under any circumstances.

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