BHP expects the rampant expansion of India’s steel industry to boost its coal business significantly, with the world’s largest miner refocusing after being hit by a Chinese ban on Australian products.

Around 40 per cent of BHP’s metallurgical coal — used by steel mills and also known as coking coal — is now heading to India, chief commercial officer Vandita Pant told the Financial Times in an interview. The figure is up from 30 per cent in its 2019 financial year. India had become a “very big, big market” for the Melbourne-based company, said Pant. 

The government in India expects to grow its steel production to 300mn tonnes a year by the end of the decade, from 125mn tonnes last year, according to officials. Steel demand has been driven by India’s rapid urbanisation, which is boosting infrastructure spending and the growth of the country’s industrial sector.