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India may soon have a say in deciding prices for Australian coal. The Indian steel mills, which have emerged as on the largest buyers, plan to negotiate with Australian coal companies to fetch better rates for themselves.
“When we buy coal from Australia, we are relying more on how Australians are negotiating with the Japanese. Historically, Japan was consuming a lot more than us.
“But now since requirements have increased and are going to further increase as we are going to be producing a lot more steel than Japan, we have to take that dominant role in the negotiation for coking coal and even thermal coal for meeting our energy requirements,” the co-chair, India-Australia Chief Executive Forum and Chief Executive, Jindal Steel and Power, Mr Navin Jindal, said at the conclusion of the Forum's first meeting.
Mining tax
Pointing out that the mining tax being levied in Australia was a matter of concern, Mr Jindal said it is unlikely to deter Indian investments into the sector although it would definitely reduce the enthusiasm for investing there.
“Indian needs are huge so it will be inevitable that Indian companies will look for resources there,” Mr Jindal admitted.
Meanwhile, the Rio-Tinto Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sam Walsh, said that his company plans to invest about $2 billion in an iron ore project in Odisha.
Asked whether the proposed project will not face a fate similar to Posco, which was halted by local protests, Mr Walsh said: “I am a very patient man. We will work through all the processes we need to. We are already working with the local community.”
Rio Tinto owns 51 per cent stake in the joint venture in which Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and NMDC have 44 per cent and 5 per cent stake each.
Rio Tinto has over the past two years renegotiated an agreement with OMC to develop and mine three iron ore deposits in Keonjhar district in Odisha.
The project is likely of a scale of between 5 and 25 million tonnes a year in the long term, officials said.
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