Integrated steel producer JSW Ltd produced over 65,000 t of wire rods from its Vijaynagar steelworks in Dec’20, as per latest data available with SteelMint. Total production from the two wire rod mills at the plant in the Apr-Dec’20 period is estimated to be close to 400,000 t.
There are two wire rod mills at the flagship facility and the new mill that started trial production in Oct’20 has a capacity of 1.2 mn t per annum – one of the largest in the country. The capacity of the old mill stands at 0.8 mn t/year. With the commissioning of the new mill in Oct’20, the steel major’s total wire rod capacity has reached 2 mn t per annum.
While India’s wire rod capacity stands at 10.25 mn t at present, producers through the BF-BOF route have a combined capacity of 6.25 mn t. IF/EAF manufacturers account for the rest. JSW has a share of 19% in the country’s wire rod production and is the foremost among the primary mills with a share of 32%.
After the disruption triggered by the lockdown in Q2 CY20, JSW gradually ramped up monthly wire rod production from Vijaynagar from below 35,000 t in May’20 to over 45,000 t in Aug’20, according to SteelMint data.
The new mill, which is expected to reach full capacity by Feb’21, increased monthly production to over 28,000 t in Dec’20 from around 20,000 t in the preceding month. Production from the old mill in the Apr-Dec’20 period was above 330,000 t.
Total wire rod exports by JSW in the Apr-Dec’20 period was slightly above 100,000 t out of total sales of over 400,000 t in the period.
Therefore, so far as wire rod goes, Q3 2020 has been a time of bulk capacity addition for JSW as well as gradual and steady build up in production towards the end of the year, especially after the new mill started operations in Oct’20.
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