Primary steel mills in India have cut production and shut their downstream operations in the face of adverse market conditions and the 21-day COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the government. Trading activities across Indian markets are expected to remain shut until April 14.
Tata Steel BSL
Tata Steel BSL suspended operations at its downstream facilities and service centres in various parts in India including Khopoli, Chakan and Aurangabad in Maharashtra; Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh, Manesar in Haryana and Ludhiana in Punjab. Operations were all halted on March 30. The company’s cold rolling mill and downstream units at Angul plant have also been suspended. Steel making units at the plant are operating at significantly low capacity.
Tata Steel BSL plans to ramp-up operations as soon as the situation normalises, said a company release. The company produces flat steel products with a steel production capacity of around 5.6mn mt.
JSW Steel
JSW Steel has scaled down or suspended manufacturing at many locations in India and overseas due to lockdown. JSW Steel’s capacity utilisation is expected to fall significantly amid the production cuts. JSW Steel is India’s largest steel manufacturers with an installed capacity of 18mn mt. Its domestic units are located at Vijayanagar, Karnataka and Dolvi, Maharashtra.
RINL
State-owned RINL (Vizag Steel) has shut one blast furnace at its Visakhapatnam plant amid a shortage of raw materials and manpower. The facility has three blast furnaces with a combined production capacity of around 21,000mt hot metal per day. With this shutdown, RINL’s daily hot metal production will be reduced by 11,000-12,000mt per day. Last week, India’s Steel Ministry had directed steel PSUs to continue operations and maintain production.