Russia has been the sixth-largest supplier of coal to India for decades. Recently, Russia became India’s third-largest coal supplier in July. The data from Indian consultancy Coalmint showed imports rose by over a fifth compared with June to a record 2.06 million tonnes.
India is the world’s second-largest producer, importer and consumer of coal. India has imported coking coal, used mainly in steelmaking, from Russia.
Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) is one of the world’s largest integrated energy companies with mining, heat and power generating, and logistics assets in Russia and a global sales network. It is also Russia’s largest coal supplier the CEO of Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) Maxim Basov said
India is emerging as a top export destination following sanctions imposed by Europe on Russia and is in talks to open an office in India. Import of Russian coal increased to 1.25 million tonnes in the first six months of 2022 which is twice more than the entire import of 2021.
Over the past few months, India’s imports from Russia have jumped nearly five times to over $15 billion ever since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Coalmint data showed that the Thermal coal imports from Russia jumped 70.3% in July, compared with June, to a record 1.29 million tonnes, while coking coal imports rose by over two-thirds to more than 280,000 tonnes.
This increase in imports because of the steep discounts offered by Russian suppliers to Indian consumers in recent months has incentivized higher buying of thermal coal used mainly in power generation. Where the global prices have traded at near-record highs due to western sanctions on Russia choking the traditional International trade, India has successfully imported enough required coal at cheap prices compared to others.
