• India’s leading steelmaker Tata Steel imported roughly 75,000 tonnes of coal from Russia.
• Came weeks after vowing to stop doing business with Russia.
• India silent on Russia’s “special operations” in Ukraine, despite the two countries’ long-standing political ties.

Two trade sources and one government source said India’s leading steelmaker Tata Steel imported roughly 75,000 tonnes of coal from Russia in the second half of May, weeks after vowing to stop doing business with Russia.

Tata Steel announced in April that it has sought alternative raw materials for all of its manufacturing locations in India, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands to end its reliance on Russia, and that it had made “a strategic choice to stop doing business with Russia.”

Still, in May, Tata Steel shipped roughly 75,000 tonnes of PCI coal, which is used in steelmaking, from Russia’s Vanino port, with 42,000 tonnes offloaded in Paradip on May 18 and 32,500 tonnes in Haldia, according to two trade sources who did not want to be identified.

Tata Steel’s spokesman claimed the arrangement to buy coal from Russia was made before the company’s announcement to terminate ties with Russia, but he didn’t elaborate.

“Tata Steel has made no more PCI Coal purchases from Russia since the announcement,” the spokesman told Reuters in an emailed statement.

An email sent to India’s trade minister seeking comment was not returned.

India has been silent on Russia’s “special operations” in Ukraine, despite the fact that the two countries have long-standing political connections. Instead, India has justified its purchases of Russian goods as a means of diversifying supplies, claiming that a sudden halt would drive up costs and harm consumers.

The only major steelmaker to say it would quit doing business with Russia was Tata Steel. According to trade data examined by Reuters, other Indian steelmakers have been purchasing large amounts of coal from Russia.

According to trade reports, the PCI coal was imported aboard the Panamax Ostria. Tata Steel purchased 75,000 tonnes of coal from Russia in May, according to a government source, but no further information were provided.

There have been no previous reports on Tata Steel’s Russian coal imports.

Reuters reported on Saturday that despite Western sanctions on Russia, purchases of Russian coal by Indian clients, particularly steelmakers, have increased in recent weeks as brokers offer discounts of up to 30%.

Indian steelmakers are in desperate need of cheap coal supply right now, since they are suffering from export tariffs imposed by the Indian government last month to combat local inflation.

Since the decision to levy export tariffs on May 21, the Nifty metals index has lost more than 20% of its value, with Tata Steel down 26%, JSW Steel down 13%, and Jindal Steel and Power down 21%.