Work on four projects along the North-South railway will begin in May and June, according to the Transport Engineering Construction and Quality Management Bureau.

Those products enjoyed high export revenues in 2019.

Indian state-run steel maker RINL has shut down two blast furnaces at its Visakhapatnam plant.

"More closures would be necessary, as demand shows little sign of recovery," said one US mining firm.

The company did not provide a new figure. The guidance was previously revised downwards from an initial 10mn t.

BHP is one of the world's largest exporters of iron ore and hard coking coal. It also ships thermal coal and copper.

Overall Russian coal output fell in the first quarter of this year, but some coking coal mining firms raised output.

Integrated steelmaker ArcelorMittal is taking a planned outage at one of the blast furnaces at its Burns Harbor mill.