Russia aims to increase coal exports to India

Alexander Novak, Russian deputy prime minister, said that Russia was interested in increasing its coal exports to India in order to meet the growing demand for fuel in Asia.

China is still the largest buyer of Russian coal, but Moscow says India could overtake China by the beginning of the next decade due to Beijing's plans for reducing coal use in power generation.

India is increasingly relying on coal for its record-breaking power demand. The increase in coal-fired electricity output this year has outpaced renewable energy growth since at least 2019.

In the fiscal year that ended March 31, India's coal production reached a new record of 997.828 millions metric tons. This is a 12% increase from last year. In 2023, coal will account for more than 75% (or more) of India's electricity production.

India imported 176 millions tons of thermal coal from the United States in 2023. This was largely due to power plants. According to the Russian energy ministry, Russian exports to India increased to 26.2 million tonnes last year from 20 million tons in 2012.

Due to the severe political standoff between the West and Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has become the biggest crude oil supplier to India.

According to the transcript released by Novak's office, "Russian coal producing enterprises have considerable resources and are keen on expanding their presence in India's fast-growing market." The comments were made at a press conference.

India, despite its close business and political ties with Russia, is wary about sanctions. Last month, India announced that it would not purchase liquefied gas (LNG), which comes from the Arctic LNG 2 project in Russia. This project is sanctioned and supported by Western countries. (Reporting and editing by Emelia Sithole Matarise; Olesya Astakhova and Vladimir Soldatkin)

(source: Reuters)