JSW Steel seeks higher met coke import quota to ease supply shortfall

India's JSW Steel has urged the government to raise the company's allocation in quotas to import low-ash metallurgical coke, a steelmaking fuel, to tide over shortfalls, two sources familiar with the matter said.

India, the world's second-biggest crude steel producer, in June extended country-specific import quotas of so-called met coke for six months to the end of December, capping purchases at 1.4 million metric tonnes.

JSW Steel, India's biggest steelmaker by capacity, met officials from the federal trade ministry late last month, the sources said, declining to be identified because deliberations are not public.

JSW Steel executives urged government officials to increase the company's allocation, citing operational difficulties at two of their units in the southern state of Karnataka and the central state of Chhattisgarh, the sources added, without saying how much extra the company wanted to import.

"Naturally, this quota is hampering operations and we have given representation. The matter is still under discussion," one of the sources said.

JSW Steel had the option of moving some of its surplus from other locations to the affected plants but the logistics cost was an impediment and not enough was being produced to meet the shortfalls, the source added.

The federal trade ministry did not respond to an email seeking comment. JSW Steel had no comment.

The import curbs have worried major steel producers in the past as well, including JSW Steel and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India, which have argued the curbs hinder the companies' expansion plans because it is difficult to source preferred grades locally.

India has also launched an anti-dumping probe into overseas supplies of low-ash met coke from Australia, China, Colombia, Indonesia, Japan, and Russia, following a request from an industry body.

Imports of low-ash met coke have more than doubled in the past four years and major suppliers of the raw material include China, Japan, Indonesia, Poland and Switzerland.

Earlier this year, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal urged steelmakers to source met coke locally.

The federal Ministry of Steel has also backed the import curbs, saying there was adequate supply of met coke locally to meet demand, Reuters has reported.