Indian met coke industry dying, needs government support to save jobs and stabilise sector: IMCOM

Indian met coke industry faces crisis due to surge in cheap imports from China and Indonesia, threatening domestic production and jobs.

The domestic market and production of metallurgical coke (met coke) industry is in dire straits, according to Indian Metallurgical Coke Manufacturers Association (IMCOM). This is attributed to unprecedented challenges caused by a sharp rise in cheap imports from China and Indonesia, the association opined.

The met coke, which is a critical raw material derived from coal carbonisation, is essential in steel-making and for other industries such as ferroalloys, foundries, nickel and automotive manufacturing.

“As a foundational component for these sectors, met coke plays a significant role in sustaining India’s industrial growth and economic stability, but unfortunately due to government decisions such as facilitation of free trade agreement (FTA), the domestic market and production of the domestic-based met coke industries are reaching deplorable condition, said IMCOM vice-president Asim Agarwalla.

He said that the industry currently supports approximately 1.5 lakh jobs across more than 100 met coke plants, including Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. States with the most prominent operations include Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, he added.

“The workforce of this production units and the country’s requirement of the product are at an imminent risk, as low cost met coke imports have surged, undermining local production. Since January 2022, these imports, predominantly from China and Chinese-based entities in Indonesia have disrupted the Indian market. The imports have been facilitated by the FTA with Indonesia that enables these entities to flood the market with met coke. The rate of imports from China and Indonesia has increased more than 12.5 times between 2022-23 financial year till now. The government, particularly the Union Ministry of Coal, should handle this and protect our domestic market,” Mr. Agarwalla said.

On the other hand, Naresh Sharma, proprietor of a met coke plant at Parawada near Visakhapatnam and one of the committee members of the IMCOM said that to tackle the rising imports of met coke from China and Indonesia, IMCOM reached out to the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) in April 2023 expressing its concerns. In response, the DGTR on April 29, 2024 recommended the imposition of Quantitative Restrictions (QR) on met coke imports for one year. These recommendations, however, have yet to be implemented, he added.

In order to expedite the implementation of the recommendations from DGTR, IMCOM has also secured support from the Ministry of Coal to invoke QR on the import of met coke. Despite the support, the imports from China and Indonesia have continued to increase.