Raw material imports for Indian steel industry — UPSC Prelims PYQ 2015
In India, the steel production industry requires the import of
- saltpetre
- rock phosphate
- coking coal
- All of the above
Explanation
Option (c) is correct
- India’s competitive advantage in steel production is driven, to a large extent, from the indigenous availability of high grade iron ore and non-coking coal – the two critical inputs of steel production.
- However, the Indian steel sector is disadvantaged due to limited availability of some of the essential raw material such as high grade lumpy Manganese ore & Chromite, coking coal, steel grade limestone, refractory raw material, Nickel, Ferrous Scrap etc. Due to shortage of domestic coking coal, both in terms of quantity and quality, pig iron producers/ BF operators in India have to significantly depend on import of coking coal.
Answer: (c) coking coal; Difficulty Level: Easy
