sail - 50 pct jump in fy13 coking coal imports

India SAIL sees 50 pct jump in FY13 coking coal import

Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:50am EDT

(Reuters) - State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), with an annual capacity of about 14 million tonnes, expects a 50 percent jump in coking coal imports to 18-19 million tonnes in the next fiscal year starting in April to keep up with the expansion.

"Next year, we will start two new blasts furnaces because of which coking coal imports will go up to 18-19 million tonnes next (2012/13) year," said Chairman C.S. Verma.

He said the company's capital expenditure will increase 16 percent to 145 billion rupees in 2012/13.

The Indian steel sector's coking coal demand is seen trebling to 90 million tonnes by 2020. The sector imports about 30 million tonnes of coking coal mostly from Australia.

SAIL is the largest steel producer in India, but lags Tata Steel's global capacity of about 28 million tonnes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/13/india-sail-idUSL4E8ED42520120313