Union Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh has met a delegation of Mongolian Parliamentary and discussed the possibility of importing good-quality coking coal from the land-locked nation.

The Mongolian Parliamentary Delegation paid a seven-day visit to India from November 30, 2021, on the invitation of the Parliament of India, the Ministry of Steel said in a statement on Thursday.

The delegation and the steel minister discussed the possibility of importing good-quality coking coal from Mongolia. Both sides expressed their keenness to develop Mongolia as a reliable source of quality coking coal at a competitive price.

“This could be an important step for the Indian steel sector towards possibilities of raw material securitisation and price stability, in times of rising coking coal prices and creating alternative sources for this important raw material, overcoming supply constraints,” the Indian ministry reported.

Iron ore and coking coal are the two key raw materials used to make steel through the blast furnace route. While iron ore is available in India; for coking coal, the domestic players remain heavily dependent on imports.

To reduce the dependence on select group of countries for coking coal supplies in 2020, then steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan on behalf of the Indian government had initiated talks with Mongolia and Russia for importing the raw material.

Around 85 percent of India’s coking coal demand is met through imports. While Mongolia is one of biggest exporters of coking coal.