'Australia's coking coal export to India may surge'

CANBERRA: The country's coking coal export to India is expected to jump, said a research by Reserve Bank of Australia's economic panel. This is likely to take place as Australia is the front runner to bag benefit from India's growing demand for coking coal.

India is considered as the globe's fourth largest steel producer but in regard to the size of the economy the country's steel consumption is quite poor, stated the research, which has been done by Markus Hyvonen and Sean Langcake.

According to the survey, “As the (Indian) economy develops further, steel consumption is likely to increase. Indian steel makers have plans to expand capacity substantially in order to meet the anticipated increase in demand. While India has relatively large reserves of iron ore, its steel makers import most of the coking coal they require. As Australia is a major supplier of coking coal to India, these exports from Australia are likely to expand further.”

Indian steel production has risen considerably in the past few decades and is expected to continue expansion since the domestic producers raise their capacity to fulfill the anticipated demand.

Moreover, India is the third-largest importer of coking coal and has emerged as the second most important destination for Australian coking coal after Japan.