Gujarat NRE Coke to set up new plant in AP

Mumbai: Gujarat NRE Coke is in the process of setting up a one-million-tonne coke making plant near Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Land for the purpose has been acquired at Rs 20 crore and the unit should be operational in two to two-and-a-half years, said Mr Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Gujarat NRE Coke. The plant would come up at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

The company expects to ship one million tonnes of premium hard coking coal to India from its two mines in Australia.

Gujarat NRE operates two underground mines in Southern Coalfields of New South Wales. With a capital expenditure of $500 million, to be spread over four years, the company intends to mine over 7 million tonnes. About 70 per cent of the funds would be from internal accruals and the balance debt, Mr Jagatramka said.

Conceding that the current scenario looked bleak, with coal prices falling drastically, he said, demand was bound to pick up as many steel companies were in the process of depleting their inventories, which were close to 2 months.

Asked whether the company was looking at possible production cuts, he said globally there is a shortage of good quality hard coking coal and met coke and the company was well integrated, with coal mines in Australia. “Shipments for three months beginning January have been booked at $550 a tonne,” he said.

Gujarat NRE has three coke making units Khambhalia and Bhachau in Gujarat and at Dharwad in Karnataka which produce close to one million tonnes of met coke.