Gujarat NRE Coke managing director Arun Kumar Jagatramka told India Infoline that by 2013 India is predicted to need more than 75 million tonnes of coking coal.

“The company is gearing up to take advantage of the increased demand for coke, in the face of the existing acute short supply in India. We plan to invest in two additional over 1 million tonnes coke facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, taking our total capacity to around 4 million tons in the rest 3-5 years,” he told India Infoline.

“This would be further supplemented by increased production of coking coal in our Australian mines which is slated to touch around 6 million tonnes per annum by 2014-15.”

He added the current mining output at its captive mines was enough to supplement its needs.

The company expects to produce 1.1-1.2 million tonnes of coal from its NRE No. 1 and NRE Wongawillia Colliery in New South Wales’ Southern coal fields by the end of March 2010, and ramp up to 2.1Mt by the end of March 2011.