Coal Gasification Plan

The Steel Ministry would ensure that raw material demands of steel manufacturers, especially secondary steel producers, are met when the mining leases expire in 2020, Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has assured.

The Steel is working with Ministry of Mines for least disruption in the process and is developing a roadmap for auction of mines, he disclosed on 14 September 2019.

Mining leases for coal and iron ore are slated to expire as of March 2020.

The Ministry is also exploring ways to build in clearances along with the leases so that the new lease holders need not go for clearances again, he said.

Pradhan, who is also Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, said Coal Gasification plan is being worked out.

He suggested that the industry should explore more options on imports of coking coal at competitive rates as India is short of this critical resource for the steel sector and imports around 80% of the total requirement.

On the supply of natural gas for the steel industry, the Minister informed the industry that a proposal for Eastern Gas Grid has already been moved which will cover all the steel industries in eastern corridor.

Regarding steel consumption, he called for a more comprehensive methodology to arrive at the actual consumption figure.

The Minister also announced the long-awaited Steel Import Monitoring System which will help in keeping a check on the import of spurious steel into the country.

Seshagiri Rao, Chairman, CII National Committee on Steel had pointed out that raw material security and demand slow down are the main challenges being faced by the industry today.

Apart from this, the imbalance in FTAs is also hurting the industry as there is an import surge from partner countries in recent years and currently, around 65% of steel imports are sourced from these countries, said Rao, also a Joint Managing Director of JSW Steel Ltd.

He urged the Government to help steel industry with a level playing field.

The Indian steel industry is competitive at global level despite significant cost of funds, logistics, raw material among others, noted
Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

He felt that India should work on reducing imports of steel for making equipment and spares as this is a big opportunity for India to indigenise equipment under the Make in India initiative.

The industry was very encouraged and enthused with the positive response received from the Minister on their various issues.

The interaction was attended by around 20 CEOs of primary and secondary steel producers and several sectoral associations. fiinews.com