NEW DELHI, June 21 (Reuters): India's top steelmaker Tata Steel imported about 75,000 tonnes of coal from Russia in the second half of May, two trade sources and one government source said, weeks after pledging to stop doing business with Russia.
Tata Steel had said in April all its manufacturing sites in India, the UK and the Netherlands had sourced alternative supplies of raw materials to end its dependence on Russia, adding it was taking "a conscious decision to stop doing business with Russia."
Still, in May, Tata Steel shipped about 75,000 tonnes of PCI coal, used in steelmaking, from Russia's Vanino port, out of which 42,000 tonnes were offloaded in a port in Paradip on May 18 and 32,500 tonnes in Haldia, said the two trade sources who wished to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak on the matter.
A spokesman for Tata Steel said the deal to import coal from Russia was made before the company's announcement to cut business ties with Russia, without providing further details.
"There has been no other PCI Coal purchase by Tata Steel from Russia after the announcement," the spokesman said in an emailed statement to Reuters.
India has refrained from condemning Russia - with which it has longstanding political ties - over what Moscow describes as its "special operations" in Ukraine. India has instead defended its purchase of Russian goods as a bid to diversify supplies and argues that a sudden halt would boost prices and hurt consumers.
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