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Poland says SAIL seeking to buy coal mines

Poland, Europe’s second-biggest producer of coking coal, said it’s in talks with Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) to sell coal-mining assets as the company seeks more of the raw material for its mills.
 
Piotr Klodkowski, Poland’s ambassador in New Delhi, started discussions on Thursday with SAIL chairman C.S. Verma on a possible investment, Sebastian Domzalski, head of the economic unit at the Polish embassy in India, said in an interview.
 
Poland, which ended communist rule and embraced democracy more than two decades ago, is seeking to ease government control over industry to bring transparency, efficiency and private investment. A stake purchase would help New Delhi-based SAIL to secure coking coal, a scarce commodity in India.
 
“We are eager to discuss the proposals and expect India to consider it at a high level,” Domzalski said. “We realize there’s a bigger world outside Europe and India is certainly a big market for our coal.”
 
Verma declined to comment when contacted by mobile phone.
 
Poland is Europe’s largest producer of power-station coal. The nation has 16.9 billion metric tonnes of reserves of the fuel, according to the European Association for Coal and Lignite. Steam coal comprises 56% of the mineable reserves, while the balance is coking coal, which is used in steelmaking, according to the association.
 
Poland’s Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA, the biggest coking- coal producer in the European Union, produces more than 80% of the nation’s total produce.
 
SAIL, which imports about 10 million tonnes of coking coal in a year, expects overseas purchases to rise 70% after completing the Rs72,100 crore ($11.05 billion) expansion at its mills and mines, according to the company’s website. The company plans to raise crude steelmaking capacity to 21.4 million tonnes a year from 13.4 million tonnes now

Source: Live Mint