Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited relit its second shuttered blast furnace (BF) on October 18, 2020 but sources informed that it will take a few more weeks for it to come to its rated production level of around 7,150 tonnes per day. With the re-igniting, all of RINL’s three BFs have gone operational. And, although production from the newly-lit furnace will be minimal in October, from November onwards, hot metal output will hover at an average of more than 19,000 tonnes per day (tpd), it is learnt.
Two BFs had to be closed down during the pandemic-induced lockdown, when demand for steel had come to a standstill.
Sales
The steel PSU has set an October, 2020 sales target of 4.3 lakh tonnes in which it is looking at a higher share of domestic sales. “Targeted domestic sales will be more than 50% in October,” a source informed SteelMint.
Total sales in September, 2020 were at 4.6 lakh tonnes, thus putting the October sales target slightly lower by almost 7%. In September, in the total sales corpus, exports comprised 2.16 lakh tonnes. However, as with most mills, RINL too is gradually shifting its focus away from exports to the domestic market since the latter is looking up.
Production
Liquid steel production in September 2020 was higher by 24% at 3.78 lakh tonnes against 3.04 lakh tonnes in August, 2020. As already mentioned, with all three BFs operational, liquid steel production is also slated to go up, accordingly in the coming months.
Inventory
The steel PSU has been gradually lowering its inventory level. Inventory as on September 30, 2020 was at around 1.7 lakh tonnes, a decrease of 39% over August-end’s 2.8 lakh tonnes. July-end had seen an inventory level of 3 lakh tonnes.
Higher domestic demand is helping to clear inventories.
~ By Madhumita Mookerji
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