Lok Sabha Question No. 1580 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-19
Subject: Demand and Production of Coking Coal
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, P.R. SUNDARAM, ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1580

TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.12.2018

## Demand and Production of Coking Coal

1580.  DR.J.JAYAVARDHAN:

DR. HEENA VIJAYAKUMAR GAVIT:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:      SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK: SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM:

SHRI ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (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?

## ANSWER

## 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 | # April-October, 2018 | # April-October, 2018              | # 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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