The conflict in West Asia has disrupted oil supplies and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This has already pushed up crude oil prices above $80 per barrel.
The Strait gives passage to more than a fifth of the world’s oil supply and is a key route to other commodities such as aluminium, sugar and fertilizers.
If the Strait of Hormuz remains inaccessible due to Iran threats, manufacturing companies in India dependent on imported raw material could feel the heat and this could severely impact production and increase costs.
Himadri Speciality Chemicals, uses coal tar as its primary raw material for manufacturing carbon black. The company has 2.50 lakh tonne per annum of carbon black installed capacity which is the world’s largest single location speciality carbon black facility.
Himadri Speciality Chemicals procures the coal tar used to make carbon black predominantly from the domestic market.
Coal tar is a thick, dark liquid by-product of the steel industry, created during the high temperature destructive distillation of coking coal into metallurgical coke.
Coking coal is produced in India with Bharat Coking Coal being the biggest. Additionally Australia is a large exporter of coal tar to India and the Australian route is unaffected by war, thus the raw material supplies continue without any trouble, it said.
However, many other domestic carbon black manufacturers are dependent on imported coal tar, the main raw material accounting for 70-75 per cent of its operating costs, said an analyst.
Published on March 6, 2026