SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has produced 2.46 million tonnes (mn t) of hot metal, 2.29 mn t of crude steel and 2.09 mn t of saleable steel in the Apr-Oct’21 period, as per reports available with SteelMint.
Hot metal and crude steel production increased 30.7% and 31.1%, respectively, over the same period last year. RSP’s hot metal capacity stands at 4.5 mn t/year.
Plate production surges
The different mills put up stellar performances in the first seven months of FY’22. The steel plant produced 1.02 mn t tonnes of hot rolled (HR) coils, and over 830,000 t of steel plates from the Plate Mill and the New Plate Mill. The New Plate Mill registered its best monthly production of 87,579 t of plates in Oct. Steel plates from RSP are meant for niche export markets.
Dispatches increased in tandem with production. RSP dispatched 2. 1 mn t of saleable steel during the period – an overall growth of 27.8%, y-o-y.
Hot Strip Mill-2
Another highlight in Oct was the re-commencement of rolling from the new state-of-the-art Hot Strip Mill-2 on 31Oct. The mill had rolled out its first coil in Jan’20. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and unavailability of the external experts, the process of rolling was kept on hold. The mill has a capacity to roll out 3 mn t of HR coils per annum.
Amarendu Prakash, Director in-charge, SAIL BSL & RSP, said, “Let’s maintain our remarkable performance. Our focus needs to be on further enhancing the techno-economics to negate the impact of the recent spate of rise in imported coal prices. The recommencement of rolling at HSM-2 would help RSP explore niche markets and reinforce its global presence.”
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