State-owned RINL on Monday said it has conducted trial production of 430 mm steel rounds at its Visakhapatnam plant.

The steel rounds will be used for production of forged wheels at RINL’s upcoming unit in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh from September this year.

“RINL’s Visakhapatnam steel plant has achieved yet another significant milestone in steel making by casting high-quality 430 mm rounds from caster 4 in steel melting shop -2 on Saturday,” RINL said in a statement.

The company also said casting of 430 mm rounds has been done for the first time in India.

P K Rath, Chairman and Managing Director, RINL said the new caster is the prime source of raw material for the upcoming forged wheel plant at Rae Bareli. The rounds can be used in seamless pipe, precious forging and wheel application etc.

“The caster was built at a cost of around ₹200 crore in steel melting shop (SMS)-2. The caster was also designed to produce high quality blooms and rounds. The auxiliary and other balancing facilities in SMS-2 were also commissioned,” RINL said.

A steel ministry official had earlier said the Rae Bareli unit has a production capacity of 1 lakh pieces of forged wheels per annum which will be expanded to two lakh pieces per annum.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd(RINL), under the steel ministry, produces special steel, including wire rod coils, rounds, billets of different grade and dimensions.

The company is eyeing production of 6.4 million tonne liquid steel and 5.8 million tonne of saleable metal in 2019-20.

comment COMMENT NOW