India’s steel minister has underlined the need for raw materials security and decarbonisation measures but is yet to announce any changes to taxes on iron ore and steel exports.

“It is about time we commit ourselves to reduce our carbon emissions by a minimum of 30-40pc… the strategy should be based on carbon minimisation, carbon avoidance and carbon capture and utilisation,” Jyotiraditya M Scindia said at the Indian Minerals and Metals Industry conference this week.

“We must also pursue a long-term decarbonisation target and look at alternative ways of producing steel, such as making steel through scrap. We are the only country in the world that produces iron and steel through coal gasification that can play an important role in replacing coking coal,” Scindia added. Steel produced using coal-based direct reduced iron (DRI) plants has a higher carbon footprint that natural gas-based DRI.

The average carbon emissions intensity of the Indian steel industry has reduced from around 3.1 tonne/tonne of crude steel (t/tcs) in 2005 to around 2.6 t/tcs by 2020, according to steel ministry data, compared with a global average of 1.89 t/tcs.

India imports about 85pc of its coking coal needs, despite domestic resources of 34bn t, Scindia said. India aims to increase its coking coal production from the current 58mn t/yr to 139mn t/yr by 2030 and also boost its iron ore production to 437mn t/yr by the end of the decade. The high-ash content of coking coal produced in India limits its use in coke production.

Seaborne coking coal prices have seen sharp swings this year. The Argus premium low-volatile fob Australia index dropped by 72pc from mid-March to $184/t on 2 August. The index has increased by about 50pc since then.

India’s January-June coking coal imports were 27.2mn t, down by 7pc from a year earlier, according to data from e-commerce firm Mjunction.

Scindia has set a target to treble current per capita finished steel consumption from 75kg to 220kg by 2047. He did not announce any changes to the 45pc tax on iron ore pellet exports, 50pc tax on iron ore fines exports and 15pc tax on steel exports.

 

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