With overall domestic demand improving, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the holding company for the Vizag Steel Plant (VSP), is gearing up to re-ignite its third blast furnace (BF), which is most likely to happen within a fortnight. When posed the question, if the third BF would resume operations before October 15, a company source said, “Most likely”.
The reasons are not far to seek. Domestic demand has been rising. The relighting of the third blast furnace will take RINL’s average liquid steel production to around 20,000 tonnes per day (tpd).
An RINL source had said earlier, in September: “If market conditions demand, the third furnace may be restarted in the coming months. Not sure but, may be, it could restart from next month.”
RINL had to shut down two of its three furnaces during the throes of the lockdown in April. It resumed the first of its two closed BFs in mid-July. And, at present, liquid steel production is averaging 13,500-14,000 tpd. The rated hot metal capacity of each BF is around 7,150 tonnes per day.
The steel PSU manufactures a plethora of long products which include TMT bars, forged rounds, rounds, structurals, wire rod coils as well as special steel items.
RINL produced 1.15 million tonnes of steel in the April-August, 2020 period of which exports, mainly semis, comprised 542,000 tonnes.
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