JSW Steel Ltd, which has cut
steel production to 30 per cent of the installed capacity due to the shortage
of iron ore, is optimistic of restoring production by the end of October. The
company, which has grabbed a lion's share at the ongoing e-auction of iron ore
in Karnataka, hopes to stock close to a month's inventory at its plant in
Toranagallu in Bellary district.
At the third iron ore auctions
held on Tuesday, JSW picked up 1.35 million tonnes, about 65 per cent of the
iron ore on auction. It picked up 61.5 Fe grade iron ore at a price of Rs 2,447
per tonne. With this, the company has now purchased a total of 1.85 million
tonnes, about 55 per cent of the 3.34 million tonnes sold at the auctions since
September 14.
The company requires close to 1.5
million tonnes of iron ore (63 Fe grade and above) to run its plant for one
month. It needs 1.8 million tonnes per month, if the Fe level goes down to 58
grade.
“We have a storage capacity for
stocking up to 4 million tonnes at our Toranagallu plant. With the regular
auctions we wish to purchase up to this level in October and by the end of the
month we can bring back production to normal levels,” Vinod Nowal, director and
CEO, JSW Steel told Business Standard.
Presently, JSW has reduced
capacity utilisation of its 10 MTPA Vijaynagar Steel Plant to a mere 30 per
cent of capacity, the minimal level for the plant to keep running.
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