November 9, 2025 - Secretary of the Ministry of Steel Sandeep Poundrik has named the country’s significant dependence on imported coking coal as a key obstacle to increasing steel production in the country, according to CNBC TV18.

According to him, the department and the Ministry of Coal Industry are negotiating to increase the share of local coking coal in steel industry in order to reduce dependence on imports and lower production costs.

Poundrik assured that India has sufficient iron ore reserves to meet both domestic demand and export needs. The most expensive raw material in steel production for the country is coking coal, 90% of which is imported. This dependence is likely to increase with the expansion of steelmaking capacity.

According to the September forecast by the Indian Steel Association (ISA) and EY Parthenon, coking coal imports to India will increase by 42% to 115 million tons by 2030 due to growing demand in the steel sector.

India aims to reach steel production capacities of 300 million tons by the 2030/2031 fiscal year and 500 million tons by 2047. In the 2024/2025 fiscal year, the country imported 81 million tons of coking coal.

The Indian government is considering replacing quantitative restrictions on imports of metallurgical coke with a definitive anti-dumping duty of approximately $125/ton. According to sources, the Ministry of Steel has consulted with the Ministry of Commerce on such a move.