Indian steelmaker JSW Steel aims to complete 5mn t/yr of expansion projects by the end of March, increasing its crude steelmaking capacity to 23mn t/yr.

 

A project to add a 4.5mn t/yr blast furnace and 5mn t/yr hot strip mill at Dolvi in the western state of Maharashtra will double the plant's crude steelmaking capacity to 10mn t/yr. Most of the facilities will be commissioned by March. Full integrated operations will start in the April-June quarter, slightly later than April as previously planned, because of travel and visa restrictions on foreign equipment vendors, the company said.

 

The $2bn project, begun in 2017, has faced repeated delays. Heavy monsoon rains in 2019 followed by staffing shortages forced JSW to push the target date from March to September 2020. Covid-19 lockdowns delayed work into 2021.

 

A downstream expansion of JSW's 12mn t/yr Vijayanagar plant in southern Karnataka state will increase the capacity of its cold rolling mill to 1.8mn t/yr from 850,000 t/yr, along with two continuous galvanizing lines of 450,000 t/yr each that will be commissioned by the end of March. A 8mn t/yr pellet plant is at Vijayanagar is being commissioned.

 

The company is also commissioning 1.08mn t/yr galvanizing facilities and 830,000 t/yr colour-coating lines at units across Maharashtra and Karnataka.

 

About 75pc of JSW's current capacity caters to flat steel production.

 

JSW produced 8.03mn t of flat steel and 2.14mn t of long steel in April-December, the first nine months of its fiscal year. Its crude steel output fell by 10pc from a year earlier to 10.89mn t in the same period.

 

Capacity utilisation increased to 91pc in October-December from 86pc in the previous quarter, when operating rates were affected by lockdowns and staffing shortages.

 

JSW aims to produce a total of 6mn-7mn t of iron ore in the current fiscal year following the acquisition of captive iron ore mines. The acquisitions raised its total iron ore mining reserves in Odisha and Karnataka to 1.2bn t. JSW aims to achieve 50-60pc self-sufficiency in iron ore from its captive mines.

 

Source: argusmedia