MET COAL SERIES: Infographic - India’s meteoric rise in global met coal markets

This five-part story series examines the coking coal market from a few angles. This first part focuses on India's rising importance in spot markets. The second part visualizes the nation's meteoric rise in met coal demand, the third examines Australia's continued dominance as an exporter, the fourth examines Chinese demand, while the fifth explores how US exports hinge on the growth of Asia's blast furnace capacity.

In the past few years, India has focused to power its economy by raising capital expenditure on sectors like infrastructure, which forms a major proportion of India’s steel demand.

With that, the need for raw materials such as coking coal has also risen sharply. India is now the largest seaborne coking coal buyer, a trend driven by the country’s growing steel capacity and consumption. India aims to raise its steel capacity to 300 million mt per year by 2030, up 71% from 2023.

This is expected to further fuel India’s coking coal requirements. India also aims to boost domestic coking production and reduce imports. Despite this plan, India’s coking coal imports are set to reach 100 million mt in 2030, S&P Global Commodity Insights estimates.

Related story: Listen: Amid ambitious expansion plans, India's steel production may face headwinds for raw material supply

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