GSFC restarts methanol plant

Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals (GSFC) on Thursday said it has restarted its methanol plant with installed capacity of 525 metric tonnes (MT) per day.

The plant was commissioned earlier in 2013, however, no commercial production took place in the plant since it was unviable due to high raw material cost and non-availability of market.

Methanol is used in many industrial applications like formaldehyde, API formulations, methyl amines, dyes & intermediates, paints, solvents, adhesives, pesticides etc. In the Indian market, the major application of methanol is in formaldehyde, which accounts for 60% of methanol consumption. The production would be an import substitution for China.

The plant has re-started on trial basis from Monday, 31 August 2020. The plant will be operating at its full capacity by 10 September 2020 and is expected to produce approximately 470 MT per day. As a result, the top-line of the company will be up by approximately Rs 150 crore in the current FY21.

GSFC's consolidated net profit dropped 27.6% to Rs 30.27 crore on a 4.9% decline in net sales to Rs 1,636.58 crore in Q1 June 2020 over Q1 June 2019.

Shares of GSFC were down 1.56% to Rs 66.30 amid broader selling pressure.

GSFC is engaged in the development of crop nutrition solutions. The company makes fertilizer products and industrial products. The company is also engaged in the business of trading pesticides, zinc sulphate, single super phosphate, magnesium sulfate and muriate of potash, among others.

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