India bucks global trend of shunning Russian exports
India is planning to significantly increase imports of Russian coking coal, a crucial ingredient in making steel, according to Ramchandra Prasad Singh, the country’s Union Steel Minister.
“We are moving in the direction of importing coking coal from Russia,” Ramchandra Prasad Singh told a conference in New Delhi, highlighting that India plans to double imports of the commodity.
The minister also said that the country had imported 4.5 million tons but did not indicate the period he was referring to.
“Smooth supplies” from Russia of coking coal have been affected, according to Singh, who apparently referred to the latest development in Russia-Ukraine relations and a series of reactions towards the crisis demonstrated by Washington and allies.
Western nations have introduced a broad package of anti-Russian sanctions over Moscow’s military assault in Ukraine. The punitive measures either completely ban or severely restrict dealing with Russian key export sales, including oil and steel.
Meanwhile, ships loaded with at least 1.06 million tons of coking and thermal coal, which is used primarily for electricity generation, are set to moor along Indian shores this month, according to data from Kpler, as quoted by Reuters.
The international consultancy highlighted that the freight was the biggest since January 2020.
Russia, ranked as India’s sixth-largest supplier of coking and thermal coal, is expected to offer more competitive prices to Chinese and Indian partners as European and other buyers turn away from the country due to the sanctions.
Trade between the nations is also projected to increase thanks to a rouble-rupee trading arrangement.
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