Gloucester Coal Ltd increased its fourth quarter sales by 16 per cent from a year earlier by taking advantage of the available port capacity.

Total coal production rose to 612,000 tonnes in the three months to June, from 527,000 tonnes a year earlier, Sydney-based Gloucester said in a statement on Wednesday.

Coking coal sales rose 11 per cent to 239,000 tonnes and thermal coal sales gained 19 per cent to 373,000 tonnes.

The quarterly figure took the full year sales figure to 2,14 million tonnes, 8.4 per cent higher than in financial 2010.