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Indian companies using yuan, dirham to pay for Russian coal — Reuters

Indian companies paid at least for 742,000 tonnes of Russian coal in currencies different from the US dollar in June

NEW DELHI, August 10. /TASS/. Indian companies are using China’s yuan and Arab Emirates dirham when paying for supplies of Russian coal, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing data from customs documents.

India has significantly increased coal imports from Russia in recent months, the news agency said. June customs data evidence non-dollar payments have become customary because regional banks and traders endeavor to mitigate risks of breaching Western sanctions against Moscow, Reuters noted.

Indian companies paid at least for 742,000 tonnes of Russian coal in currencies different from the US dollar in June. According to Reuters, this amounted to 44% from the total volume of 1.7 mln tonnes of this commodity imported from Russia in June.

Further to yuan and dirham, Indian steel and cement producers also used Hong Kong dollars and euro to pay for Russian coal. The yuan share was 31% of Russian coal payments and the share of the Hong Kong dollar was 28%. The euro accounted for less than a quarter of payments for delivers and the Arab Emirates dirham stood at about one sixth, Reuters said.

India increased Russian coking and steam coal procurements by 10% month-on-month in July to 2.02 mln tonnes, the Indian consultancy CoalMint said earlier. In terms of July deliveries of coal, Russia moved up from the sixth to the third position in the list of major coal suppliers to India, with Indonesia and South Africa at two top positions.

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