The Hindu Business Line : Bhilai Steel output up 13 pc, despite coking coal crisis

DESPITE the recent crisis in coking coal, Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has registered a record saleable steel production of 4.08 million tonnes during 2003-04 marking a growth of 13 per cent over the previous financial year 2002-03.

Addressing a press conference, Mr R.P. Singh, Managing Director of BSP, said hot metal production grew by 11.8 per cent to 4.93 million tonnes. Similarly, crude steel production increased by 12 per cent to 4.7 million tonnes. Total capacity utilisation of the plant was at 128 per cent.

Though Mr Singh preferred not to disclose the actual net profit recorded by BSP, he said it has crossed the Rs 2,100-crore mark. In 2002-03, BSP's net profit was Rs 735 crore. In the first nine months of 2003-04, BSP's net profit was around Rs 1,200 crore.

According to him, the plant was successful in bettering the results due to a couple of reasons. The first cause was enhanced techno-economic factors, which improved a lot during 2003-04. Second, the average productivity of the plant has increased.

During the current financial year, BSP received clearance from the SAIL board to install a new slab caster and secondary refining units. "The new caster with a capacity of eight lakh tonnes will absorb the extra hot metal which will come out of the sixth and seventh blast furnaces. It will also help us in producing higher grade steel," he said.

In this context he added that in the long term BSP wishes to increase its hot metal production to seven million tonnes. Along with that the production of semis will be reduced from 30 per cent to 2-3 per cent and the capacity of the plate mill will be increased. Another bar and wire rod mill is also planned.

"The total cost of all these expansion projects taken together will be around Rs 8,000 crore and it will be spread out till 2012. We wish to increase the production of value-added products in the future," he said.

The captive mines of BSP recorded a production of 8.129 million tonnes registering a growth of 27 per cent over 2002-03. The rail mill dispatched 7.08 lakh tonnes of UTS 90 rails to Indian Railways and it included 1.5 lakh tonnes of 26 metre rails.

BSP will increase the capacity of its SMS II to 3 million tonnes from the existing level of 1.5 million tonnes. The plant management is contemplating to set up SMS III with a capacity of four million tonnes per annum.

Regarding the coking coal crisis, Mr Singh said, BSP was forced to reduce its dependence on imported coking coal. Earlier, 80 per cent of BSP's coking coal demand was met by imported material. Now it has been reduced to 57 per cent. SAIL management has already taken several steps to get out of this crisis, which is a global phenomenon.

Mr Singh felt that the crisis would be partially over by the end of May. SAIL is likely to import coking coal from New Zealand and the US. "Our annual coal expense is likely to increase by Rs 600 crore during 2004-05," he said.