JSW Cement to increase capacity using imported clinker for grinding mills

JSW Cement plans to rapidly expand its production capacity with grinding mills using imported clinker, with cement mill capacities coming later.

Parth Jindal, Managing Director, JSW Cement, said the company plans to more than double its cement production capacity to about 17 million tonnes by 2018. It will establish grinding units of about 1.2 million tonnes a year each at Mangaluru, Odisha, Maharashtra, and 2.4 million tonnes each in Karnataka and West Bengal, to augment the present 7 million tonnes available with it.

The capex will be about ₹2,700 crore, several times lower than what it would have to spend on equivalent capacity of cement mills.

The company will import clinker to feed the grinding units as surplus clinker is available in China, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. JSW can get clinker cheaper than domestic stock at its units at Dolvi, Maharashtra and Salboni, West Bengal, which are close to ports. It has entered into long-term tie-ups for clinker and JSW Infrastructure, a group company, has adequate port facilities to handle the imports, he said.

Jindal was in Chennai for the launch of Concreel HD, a blended cement for concrete.

The company eventually has a target to go to 30 million tonnes cement capacity through acquisition and new cement plants.

The idea is to fund the increase to 17 million tonnes via equity of about 25 per cent and balance from debt. JSW can then reach adequate scale for an IPO, Jindal said.

The company will start construction next April on a 1-million tonne cement plant and grinding unit in the UAE as part of an overseas expansion plan, he said.

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