NEW DELHI: Public sector giant Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is keen to buy more coking coal from Russia as prices are cheaper than Australia, company chairman Amarendu Prakash said on Monday.

Coking coal is a crucial input in the steel making process and the bulk of the imports are currently sourced from Australia while some shipments also come from the US.

India imports around 70 million tonnes of coking coal every year as domestic coking coal is of poor quality.

However, high prices of imported coal are eroding profit margins of steel companies because of which cheaper Russian coal appears to be a good option.

At the same time, SAIL is also reported to be considering through its SPV International Coal Ventures Private Limited (ICVL), to double the capacity of the Bengal coal mine in Mozambique.

At present, ICVL has a 2 million tonnes per annum capacity.