India to Further Extend Ban on Met Coke Imports from June 2025

India is likely to extend restrictions on low-ash metallurgical coke (met coke) imports beyond June 2025, official sources said on Tuesday.

These quantitative restrictions, first announced back in December 2024, would take effect in the total import amounts for the first half of 2025, with import totals reaching up to 1.4 million metric tons. The decision, aimed at encouraging domestic procurement, came after many Indian manufacturers were slow to be sourced by local steel mills, making when it will be extended from December a matter for consideration by the government.

The Ministry of Commerce has held talks with representatives of the steel industry since the restrictions went into effect, urging them to source more domestically and cut back on imports from countries such as Indonesia and China. But steel producers have cried foul over the quality of Indian met coke and claimed that protracted restrictions could upset their expansion plans.

The existing import cap allocates fixed quotas to the main supplier countries:

• Australia — 51,276 metric tons

• China – 78,646 metric tons

• Japan – 209,000 metric tons

• Russia – 89,182 metric tons

• Singapore – 46,478 metric tons

• United Kingdom – 76,000 metric tons

Such imports can only happen through designated ports where electronic data interchange systems have been set up, so quotas can be monitored in real-time.

With the domestic steel industry raising alarms and the government advocating self-reliance, the decision to extend the restrictions beyond June 2025 will be an important one. Discussions between the industry and policymakers will continue in the coming months.