India’s Steel Mills Struggle with Metallurgical Coke Shortage, Demand Twice Domestic Supply in 2025

India’s Steel Mills Struggle with Metallurgical Coke Shortage, Demand Twice Domestic Supply in 2025

October 16, 2025

India’s steel mills are stuck in a tough spot! In the first half of 2025, they managed to get just half of their metallurgical coke needs from local producers—1.5 million tons made against a whopping demand of 3.09 million tons. This big gap is causing serious headaches and ramping up calls to relax tight import rules on this vital steelmaking fuel. India stands as the world’s second-largest crude steel maker. To boost local coke production, the government introduced import curbs in January 2025. But in June, these curbs got even stricter, setting specific country quotas and capping imports to 1.4 million tons for the second half of the year alone. Many steel mill bosses—speaking secretly since they aren’t allowed to go on record—say the fresh production numbers make the import squeeze look questionable. They want the government to increase import quotas nearly seven times to tackle a "critical supply crunch." The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has stayed silent, refusing comment on the issue. Last year, even the car industry raised alarms against these curbs, warning they could hurt auto parts supply. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers sent a letter cautioning about disruptions, but they too did not respond to requests for comment. Big players like JSW Steel and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India have voiced worries that the curbs block their growth plans. They struggle to find the right coke grades locally. Before the curbs, cheap, low-ash metallurgical coke imports more than doubled over four years, coming from key countries like China, Japan, Indonesia, Poland, and Switzerland. With steelmakers stuck between tighter import limits and local shortages, India’s steel industry is calling loudly for a rethink. Can the government turn up the heat to ease the crunch and keep those steel furnaces roaring?

Read More at Economictimes

Tags: India steel industry, Metallurgical coke, Import curbs, Steel production, Jsw steel, Arcelormittal,

Reuters

Comments

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *