Coking coal needs of steel cos will be met: Minister

"If this situation continued, steel production at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) and SAIL units would be affected drastically," he said.

"The government has already sent a high-level team to Australia to restore the coking coal supplies to normal levels. The steel ministry has also asked the coal ministry to step up coking coal production in the country to mitigate the problem. China also supplies some quantity of coking coal to India, but there are no chances of getting more from there," he added.

Of the country's total production of 35 million tonnes of steel, the public sector units contribute around 32 per cent. Giving top priority to the steel units, the government advised National Mineral Development Corporation to first meet the iron ore needs of the domestic steel units and then take up exports of surplus, the minister said. The steel ministry is also encouraging VSP to set up captive iron mines for its needs.

The minister said that VSP is planning to increase its production capacity from the existing three million tonnes to 10 million tonnes in a phased manner. He added that VSP was doing very well on all fronts while maintaining international standards.

"This year, VSP is targeting a net profit of Rs1,200 crore as against Rs 520 crore in the last fiscal. VSP was already a debt-free company, and by March 2007 it would clear all its accumulated loses of around Rs 4,200 crore," he said.

At present, the country's per capita steel consumption is around 29 kg, and is slated to increase in the coming days as the steel production is slowly picking up, the minister said.

This year, steel exports from the country will go up by 1.5 million tonnes when compared to last fiscal. The minister later inaugurated the steel exhibition at the Steel Plant grounds on the occasion of 'Turnaround Celebrations' at VSP.