India: Steel Ministry assures support to facilitate coal supply to WB mills

Union Minister of State for Steel, Faggan Singh Kulaste, has said that the Steel Ministry is trying to resolve all difficulties the industry is facing in terms of raw material availability. To increase India's steel-making capacity to 300 million tonnes (mnt) by 2030, sufficient raw materials are required, and Kulaste has assured secondary steel mills in West Bengal that efforts will be made to provide adequate coal to these units so that production is not impacted.

"We will hold talks with the Ministry of Coal and Coal India Ltd. (CIL) regarding this," he said on Saturday while addressing SteelMint's annual flagship conference in Kolkata.

The Minister has also held talks with the Ministry of Railways to increase rake availability and the need for doubling of single tracks for smooth evacuation of iron ore and coal.

Vivek Adukia, Chairman, Steel Re-rolling Mills Association (SRMA), voiced his concern about inadequate coal availability and delay in receipt of iron ore. Adukia sought the Ministry's intervention in addressing these issues.

"We want the Steel Ministry to address issues such as unavailability of railway rakes in Dhamra and Paradip ports for coal transportation. In this regard, we will write to the Minister informing him about our requirements. I also request the Ministry of Mines as well as Ministry of Steel to take up the issue of reopening of closed mines with the state governments of Odisha and Jharkhand. This will help our mills secure adequate iron ore," Adukia said.

The highlight of the concluding day of the 3-day conference was a virtual address by the Union Minister of Steel Jyotiraditya M Scindia. The Steel Ministry is contemplating mandating steel producers to dedicate a percentage of their production toward green steel, he stated.

Scindia further said that the conference will help in identifying key milestones that India has to achieve over the next decades and assured regulatory support to the industry.

The '3rd Coal Outlook Conference', '6th Indian Iron Ore & Pellet Summit and '5th DRI & Steel Conference' was SteelMint's flagship event organised, for the first time, in partnership with SRMA and West Bengal Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association (WBSIMA) from 24-26 August, 2023.

Among some of the key sessions held was "How is the steel industry gearing up to address carbon emissions?" Dr Sabuj Halder, Head, Process Technology Field Connect, Tata Steel Limited, said: "Tata Steel is piloting H2 injection in blast furnace and CCS as interim emissions reduction measures."

Other eminent speakers pointed out that major Indian mills have announced targets to reduce emissions by 30-40% by 2030 from 2005 levels. India's Ministry of Power is going to launch the national carbon emissions trading scheme soon.

In the session on "Key govt policies to look out for in the mining sector", Sumit Deb, President, FIMI, spoke about the key regulatory changes affecting the mining sector, namely the proposed NMI and streamlining of the royalty calculation methodology, as well as the government's beneficiation policy.

Sachin Shetty, Managing Partner, Quesrow Consulting, delved deep into India's scrap generation potential during the session on "Recycling gaining pace in India". "Scrap consumption in global steel-making will increase by 35-40% in 2030. Ferrous scrap consumption will inevitably rise as the steel industry's efforts to reduce its environmental footprint gather steam," Shetty said.

On the other hand, Dinesh Adukia, Managing Director, Adukia Industries, said that with recycling gaining in popularity, industry players should have a strategy to utilise scrap to the fullest.

During an engaging session on "Prospects of Indian coal-based DRI industry", Vivek Agrawal, COO, Godawari Power and Ispat (GPIL) said: "Increasing energy efficiency of coal-based DRI sector hinges on raw material quality. Also, of vital importance is enhancing capacity utilisation. The share of DRI in domestic steel-making is going to increase in the near- to mid-term."