Demystifying India’s metallurgical coal trade

Indian met coal imports are dominated by integrated steel producers who account for 85-90% of met coal imports. With increased spot purchases by a few integrated sector mills, India has increased its coking coal imports through spot contracts in 2023. With 10% higher hot metal production in 2024, led by a greater share of production, India’s met coal imports are expected to increase by 3% to 4% in 2024 from 2023. In this Insight, we cover the following: • Decoding the metallurgical coal trade: Which countries are the suppliers of met coal to India and what is the grade of met coal from these countries? • Analysis of metallurgical coal blends: What is met coal import mix by various categories of importers and coking coal import mix by integrated steel producers? • Metallurgical coke margin and trade: How has the margin of merchant coke ovens impacted met coke trade in 2023? • Outlook for metallurgical coal imports in 2024: What are the main factors driving met coal imports in 2024?