New Delhi: Coal India Ltd, the world's top coal miner, plans to acquire coking coal assets abroad as India lacks technology to economically develop local reserves, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said.

"The recent spurt in global coal prices, particularly for coking coal, is expected to create an encouraging scenario for such acquisition process," Goyal told lawmakers in a written reply.

Coking coal futures on the Singapore Commodity Exchange soared in the second half of last year as top consumer China clamped down on local production as part of a campaign against pollution.

They have since dropped by about 40 percent to around $170 a tonne, but are still double what they were in mid-2016.

Coal India has surrendered two mining licenses in Mozambique, and currently does not own any foreign coal assets, he said.