Question : Demand and Production of Coking Coal

(a) the quantity of coking coal existing in the country at present and the quantity of demand thereof;
(b) whether there is huge difference in the demand and production of coking coal and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether India is to remain heavily dependent on imported coking coal and if so, the present status thereof;
(d) whether the Government proposes to acquire coking coal reserves sites in foreign countries;
(e) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(f) the time by which those are proposed to be acquired alongwith the amount of funds earmarked for the said purpose?

MINISTER OF COAL AND RAILWAYS
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a): The details of Coking Coal reserve as on 01/04/2018 is given below:-
Type of Coking Coal Proved Indicated Inferred Total
Prime Coking (MT) 4649 664 0 5313
Medium Coking (MT) 13914 11709 1879 27502
Blendable/Semi Coking (MT) 519 995 193 1707
Total 19082 13368 2072 34522








(b): Theestimated of demand of coking coal made by NITI Aayog and domestic production of coking coal during the year 2017-18 and 2018-19 is given below:-
(in million tonnes)
Year Estimated
Demand Actual production
of Coking Coal Gap
2017-18 63.17 40.92 22.25
2018-19 58.37 22.60# 35.77
# April-October, 2018




(c):The entire demand of coking coal is not met from domestic production as the supply of high quality coal/ coking coal (low-ash-coal) in the country is limited and thus no option is left but to resort to import of coking coal. As per the current import policy, coal is kept under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty. The import of coking coal during the year 2017-18 was 47 MT and in the current year 2018-19 (upto September) was 25.94 MT.

In order to increase the production of indigenous coking coal NIT has been issued under Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 for allocation of 6 Coking Coal blocks (Total extractable reserve – 282 MT) with overall peak production capacity of 12.63 MT per annum. Further, CIL has a plan to augment supply of Coking Coal through washed coking coal.
(d)&(e):India is deficient in techno-commercially extractable coking coal reserves. CIL has taken initiatives towards acquisition of coking coal assets abroad, with particular focus in Australia and Canada, with a view to import the produces to India and enhance raw material security of the country. Certain assets have been identified which are under different stages of due diligence.
(f): CIL is continuously searching for coking coal assets coming up for sale in the global market and identifying suitable assets for acquisition. The acquisition process will entail conducting detailed due diligence and closure of the commercial deal. The time required for such process is asset specific and therefore it is not possible to indicate any specific time period by which such deal can be closed.
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