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WARSAW, March 13 (Reuters) - Poland's JSW JSW.WA , the European Union's largest coking coal producer, could pay a dividend next year once it has paid off its bondholders, Chief Executive Daniel Ozon said on Tuesday.
"We want to be a dividend company," Ozon told reporters.
"The company has not paid out dividends for many years and we will definitely try to pay out a dividend next year," he said, adding that the company intended to maintain this dividend policy over the longer term.
JSW, which almost collapsed in 2015 when coking coal prices slumped, said on Monday it would again not pay a dividend for last year despite reporting a forecast-beating jump in net profit. we wanted to pay out a dividend now, we would have to pay off our bondholders," Ozon said.
The company hopes that thanks to new bond issues planned later this year it could refinance its existing debt which now mostly includes bonds worth 517.5 million zlotys ($152.4 million) and $94 million.
Ozon said JSW was considering new bond issues in Poland and the United States to be able to refinance its existing debt and raise funds for investment. JSW sees its capital expenditure rising to 1.8 billion zlotys from 1.02 billion last year.
A benchmark $500 million bond issue in the United States could possibly take place by mid-2018, Ozon said.
JSW, which plans to increase its total coal output to 18.2 million tonnes in 2030 from 15.4 million expected this year, plans to talk to Australia's coal firm Prairie Mining PDZ.AX about potential cooperation on Prairie's coal projects in Poland.
"I can imagine we set up a special purpose vehicle with Prairie and potentially other partners," Ozon said.
Prairie Mining said in a statement on Feb. 9 it had held preliminary discussions with JSW on cooperation.
On the steel import tariffs proposed by the United States, Ozon said he hoped they would be "temporary".
"As for today, we do not see a significant risk, we are talking to clients, monitoring the situation," Ozon said. ($1 = 3.3956 zlotys)