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In India, the steel production industry requires the import of
Explanation
In India the steel production industry requires the import of coking coal[1]. Over the last few years, the steel production surged by 36% while coking coal imports have gone up by nearly 65% in India[2].
Coking coal (also called metallurgical coal) is essential for steel production as it is used in blast furnaces to reduce iron ore to molten iron. India has limited reserves of good quality coking coal, which makes it necessary to import this raw material to meet the demands of the growing steel industry. The steep rise in coking coal imports alongside increased steel production demonstrates this dependency.
Saltpetre (potassium nitrate) is used in fertilizers and explosives, not steel production. Rock phosphate is primarily used in fertilizer manufacturing, not in the steel industry. Therefore, only coking coal is the correct answer among the given options.
SourcesPROVENANCE & STUDY PATTERN
Guest previewThis is a classic 'Resource Deficit' question. Standard books list what minerals India has; smart aspirants specifically list what India *lacks*. The asymmetry between abundant Iron Ore and scarce Coking Coal is the single most repeated fact in Indian Industrial Geography.
This question can be broken into the following sub-statements. Tap a statement sentence to jump into its detailed analysis.
- Passage presents the UPSC 2015 question listing saltpeter, rock phosphate and coking coal as options.
- The passage's answer notes saltpetre is not used and specifies the coking-coal requirement per tonne of steel, implying coking coal is the import.
- States that coking coal imports in India have risen sharply, indicating the steel industry imports coking coal.
- Provides context on the vulnerability of the steel sector due to low domestic availability/quality of coking coal.
Lists the principal raw materials used by the iron and steel industry (iron ore, manganese, flux, limestone, fuel/coking coal, fire-clay), establishing the candidate items that might need to be sourced/imported.
A student can take this list and check which of these (e.g., coking coal vs iron ore) India lacked in adequate quality/quantity around 2015 to infer likely imports.
States that some raw materials for iron and steel are 'not adequately available' and explicitly notes India imports heavy quantities of certain inputs and has a shortage of good quality coking coal.
Combine this rule about inadequate domestic availability with trade data or knowledge that coking coal is critical for steelmaking to suspect coking coal was imported.
Notes 'Shortage of desired quality of coking coal' as a challenge for the steel industry, reinforcing that coking coal quality/availability was an issue.
Use this repeated note on coking coal shortage plus basic facts that high-quality coking coal is often imported to judge that coking coal was likely an import item in 2015.
Reports India as a major exporter of iron ore (about 55% exported), which suggests domestic iron ore was sufficiently available for export rather than being principally imported.
A student could use this export fact to argue iron ore was less likely to be a major import in 2015 and focus attention on other inputs like coking coal.
Says much scrap iron is used to supplement deficiency in ore, indicating the industry relies on scrap as an input where ore is lacking.
Combine this with global scrap markets (and ports/trafficking patterns) to evaluate whether scrap (or processed inputs) might have been imported to meet demand.
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