India intended to raise its raw coking coal capacity over the next seven years so as to reduce its reliance on other countries, avoid supply disruptions, and expand steelmaking capacity.

An announcement from the Ministry of Coal showed that India aimed to produce 140 million tons of coking coal per year by 2030, up from the current 51.7 million tons.

The Indian state-owned coal mining company Coal India Limited (CIL) planned to hike its annual output of raw coking coal to 26 million tons at existing mines by the fiscal year 2025. Besides, it will also open another nine new mines with a peak capacity of 20 million tons per year.

India depends greatly upon the supply from Australia, which meets more than 70% of India’s demand.