Tata Steel Kalinganagar misses crude steel output target in FY18

Leading steel producer Tata Steel's Kalinganagar unit has missed the steel production target for 2017-18. The unit has produced 2.5 million tonnes (mt) crude steel as against an output target of 2.7 mt in the last fiscal.

The shortfall in steel output is despite the unit achieving hot metal production of 2.9 mt against the annual business plan target of 2.85 mt.

This shows the hot metal to steel conversion process of the plant is yet to settle down to optimal operation level to yield the desired result, said an analyst. That is expected of a new plant which faces tethering problems to synchronise and stabilise various units involved in the steel making process, he added.

It may be noted the Blast Furnace of the Kalinganagar plant was shut down for about three weeks beginning 29th January because of a technical snag. The loss of production due to the shutdown was estimated at around 0.15 mt.

"Since the downstream operations are integrated to the Blast Furnace, Steel Melting Shop (SMS) and Hot Strip Mill (HSM) were also shutdown", chief spokesperson of Tata Steel, India and South East Asia, Kulvin Suri had said then.

Tata Steel's Kalinganagar unit went into production in November 2015 with a first phase capacity of 3 mt. The company board last year has approved a plan to expand the plant capacity to 8 mt at a cost of Rs 23.5 billion.

The Kalinganagar plant sold 2.35 mt of steel in the market during FY18, according to a statement of the company. Its products are mostly catering to segments like Automotive sector, LPG manufactures, construction equipment manufacturers, tube makers, line pipe manufactures, pre-engineered building sector, coal rollers, it added.

On the other hand, Tata Steel's Jamshedpur unit has achieved best-ever hot metal production of 10.95 mt and best-ever saleable steel production of 9.78 mt in FY18, said a release.