Tata Metaliks may shut Redi plant

Tata Metaliks today said it had up to 15 days' iron ore inventory to feed the furnaces at its Redi plant in Maharashtra and may have to resort to closure if raw material supply does not get normalised within the next 7-10 days.

"At present, the company has 10-15 days inventory of iron ore to run the furnace[s]. If the supply of iron ore does not get normalised within 7-10 days the furnace[s] need to be shut down for shortage of iron ore," Tata Metaliks said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The recent banning of iron ore mining in Bellary-Hospet region of Karanataka has put almost all iron and steel makers in the dock. Many have reduced production for want of adequate iron ore supply.

The Bellary-Hospet region is the main source for Tata Metaliks' iron ore requirement for its pig iron manufacturing plant at Redi in Maharashtra.

Apart from Redi, the company has one more manufacturing plant at Kharagpur in West Bengal with a cumulative capacity of 6.5 lakh tonne per annum.

Tata Metaliks, however, said that it was exploring possibilities to transport iron ore from eastern part of the country to run the production facility at Redi.

The scrip of the company today closed at Rs 86.9 on the BSE, down 1.92% over the previous day's closing.