The Hindu Business Line : Wagon demand from SAIL to shoot up

With the public sector steel company having succeeded in tying up with the overseas sources for a steady supply of coking coal for the current fiscal, the first consignment of the imported coal will arrive by that time. And once coal is available in adequate quantities, the plants, which are believed to have already built up adequate stocks of iron ore and limestone, will start producing as per the projections. This will lead to a rise in demand for wagons following an increase in the movement of raw materials from ports to the plants as well as for the evacuation of the finished products from plants.

The situation has been somewhat different now in view of the limited arrival of imported coking coal. For 2004-05, SAIL's import of coking coal is projected at nine million tonnes (mt) compared to a little over seven mt in 2003-04. Which means the monthly import should be 7.5 lakh tonnes on an average. In April, SAIL imported a little less than five lakh tonnes - 2.23 lakh tonnes through Visakhapatnam port, 2.17 lakh tonnes through Haldia and 57,000 tonnes through Paradip - and in May a little over six lakh tonnes - 2.17 lakh tonnes through Visakhapatnam, 2.80 lakh tonnes through Haldia and 1.08 lakh tonnes through Paradip. In other words, in first two months of the current fiscal, there has been a shortfall to the tune of four lakh tonnes, the actual import being around 11 lakh tonnes against the projected 15 lakh tonnes.

If the trend so far is any indication, the throughput in June will be more than that in May. In the first seven days of this month, the throughput was 1.94 lakh tonnes - 85,000 tonnes through Visakhapatnam, 80,000 tonnes through Haldia and 29,000 tonnes through Paradip. SAIL sources would estimate the import for the month at seven lakh tonnes at best.

In other words, if SAIL is really required to handle the targeted volume of nine million tonnes of imported coking coal in the current year, it has to import more than 7.5 lakh tonnes a month in the remainder of the year to make up for the shortfall recorded so far and subsequent shortfall which might arise. The demand for wagons will automatically jump.

The Railways sources are hopeful of meeting SAIL's increased demand for wagons. "The Railways can genuinely take credit for helping SAIL post spectacular performance in 2003-04," observe the Railways sources.