Thursday, July 07,
Most of the Induction furnaces in Orissa have shut their production to protest the recent power tariff hike which has increased the cost of production by around Rs 800-1000/MT
“More than half of the furnaces are shutdown and if the Orissa Electricity Board does not take back the hike, then others will also shut down”, said Mr. Deepak Agarwal of Krishna Metals based in Rourkela.Currently Orissa Electricity board is charging power at Rs 5.05 per unit which is much higher than other states like Chattisgarh, Jharkhand he added.
Manufacturers are not in a position to commit regarding the delivery period as production level has reduced drastically
Ms Ingot in Rourkela is currently being quoted at Rs 31,400/MT (inclusive of all), whereas Sponge iron is being quoted at Rs 19,400/MT (basic price).
On the other hand, Orissa State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) on Wednesday has decided to issue closure notices to six sponge iron units for not complying with the stipulated pollution control norms, official sources said.
The sponge iron plants which would face closure notice comprised three in Sundergarh district, two in Keonjhar district and one in Angul. So, closure of sponge iron units will further squeeze the availability of sponge iron within the state which was already tight due to closure of various iron ore mines & cancellation of trading licenses for Iron ore. So, going forward, both Ingot & sponge iron prices are likely to remain firm in Orissa.
Reported by Meghna Verma (meghna@steelmint.com)
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