Tata Steels Ferro-Chrome Project Hangs Fire

Tata Steel is still undecided on its proposed overseas ferro-chrome project, which it has been pondering on for over a year now.

Initially, Tata Steel was undecided on whether the project was to be set up in South Africa (SA) or Australia. However, South Africa scored over Australia in terms of availability of cheaper power. Power accounts for around 70 per cent of the total cost of a ferro-chrome project.

B Muthuraman, managing director, said earlier this week, "We are yet to take a final call on the project that we plan to set up abroad. We are reviewing the project."

The steel maker had earlier said that they had more or less zeroed in on SA to set up the port-based 1.2 lakh tonne ferrochrome plant.

"We are taking a relook at all the parameters including the location of the project," another senior executive at Tata steel said.

According to sources, the company had also to take a decision on the sourcing of chrome ore for the project. It is yet to be decided whether the ore requirement will be met from the country where the unit is located or from India or from any third country.

Meanwhile, the company is looking at acquisition of ferro-chrome units and growth through greenfield projects. Tata Steel has set its eyes on the Orissa government's Industrial Development Corporation, a 18,000 tonne a year unit at Jajpur. The other units of the company include 50,000 tonne a year facility at Bamanipal in Orissa and a 20,000 tonne per unit in Joda.