Neha Arora

India's steel ministry is unlikely to push for any new measures to curb cheap imports in the near ​term, turning down a request from domestic steelmakers, according to ‌a government source with direct knowledge of the matter.

A leading Indian recyclers' group representing small and mid-sized ​firms has sought intervention from the government over India's proposed ‌exclusion from European Union metal waste exports, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

Indian critical minerals producer Lohum is ​seeking to buy nickel mines in Indonesia and the Philippines as it targets a tenfold increase ‌in production to meet rising demand for battery minerals, its founder and chief executive said.

India will be able to export up to 1.64 ​million metric tons of steel a year to the European Union ‌under a free trade agreement, but exporters will still face carbon-related costs, according to the legal text of the pact.

Indian steel ​prices are expected to rise further in the coming weeks as a post-monsoon pickup ‌in infrastructure and automotive demand tightens the market while higher coking coal costs lift production costs of mills, executives and analysts said.

India has resumed talks with Zambia to explore investment opportunities in copper and other critical minerals, two sources said, as New Delhi looks increasingly overseas for raw materials to meet rising ​demand from its rapidly growing economy.

The world's largest coal producer, Coal India Ltd , is setting up its first overseas trading office in Singapore, ​aiming to diversify into trading iron ore and critical and strategic minerals, ‌two sources said.

Indian steel mills are facing mounting ​pressure on margins as higher coking coal prices, driven by supply disruptions in Australia and China and ‌the Iran war, raise steelmaking costs, executives and analysts said.

State-run Hindustan Copper plans to sell copper concentrate produced by mines it is acquiring from Chile's Codelco to Hindalco and Adani, aiming to ​meet India's growing appetite for the red metal, two sources familiar with ‌the matter said.

India's state-run Steel Authority of India and Indonesia's Krakatau Steel plan to invest as much as $350 million in a stainless steel slab ​plant in Indonesia, two Indian sources familiar with the matter said this week.