Tata Steel has tested coking coal samples from Russia for making steel through the blast furnace route, its managing director and chief executive officer T.V. Narendran said.

The development assumes significance in the domestic steel industry as a fruitful result of the experiment would break the monopoly of Australia in coking coal supply to India.

According to official data, the country imports about 56 million tonnes (mt) of coking coal worth around Rs 72,000 crore. Of this, about 45mt is imported from Australia.

“We have imported some coking coal from Russia. The east coast of Russia is a good source,” Narendran said. The CEO said this while replying to a question related to the company’s contribution to the steel ministry’s ongoing efforts to reduce India’s dependence on select countries for the sourcing of coking coal.

Earlier, the ministry asked the steel makers to get in coking coal from Russia and test the raw material at their plants and update on the result of the same.

Coking coal is a key raw material used for making steel using the blast furnace route, besides iron ore.