New Delhi, Sept. 9 -- Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Monday warned India's biggest steelmakers against over-reliance on imports of metallurgical coke (met coke)-a key raw material for steelmaking-and urged them to build local capacity and avoid vulnerabilities similar to the Chinese rare earth magnet crisis.

"Better develop your own met coke supplies and enough capacity," Goyal said at the Indian Steel Association Conclave in New Delhi. "We may not give you quotas next year."

Notably, India, the world's second-biggest crude steel producer, currently allows imports of 1.4 million tonnes (mt) of met coke under a country-specific quota for January-June, which has since been extended to 31 December.

Goyal expressed un...