JSW Steel to integrate Aferpi mill with Indian facilities

04-December-2018

JSW Steel would integrate the recently acquired Aferpi mill with its Indian facilities, including the newly purchased Monnet Ispat and Energy, as part of the Italian steelmaker’s phased turnaround plans.

Besides Italy, its plant at Acero Junction in the US will commission its electric arc furnace and meltshop in December and the improvement in earnings should start reflecting in the next quarter. “At Aferpi, in the first phase we will operate the 1.3 MT rail mill that already has orders in place and integrate it with billets from Salem and Monnet Ispat sent from India,” Seshagriri Rao, joint MD at JSW Steel, told ETin an interaction.

To gain foothold in the Italian and European markets, JSW Steel had bought Italy’s second largest steelmaker in May for € 55 million (Rs 441 crore) after it lost Ilva to ArcelorMittal.

The 2 MT consists of a 1.3 MT rail mill and wire rods and bar making facilities.

The company has longterm plans to set up an electric arc furnace there but in the first phase, it would source 2 lakh tonnes of steel billets from its plant at Salem and the rest from Monnet Ispat once it gets commissioned.

Apart from Aferpi, JSW Steel had also invested a billion dollars in the US to modernise its existing plate and pipe mill in Baytown, and to acquire the steel plant at Acero Junction, which consists of a 1.5 MT electric arc furnace and 3 MT hot strip mill.

To achieve the re-commissioning of the facility there, JSW Steel has sent its team responsible of turning around its plant at Dolvi the company had acquired from Ispat Industries in 2010.

“At Acero Junction, the commissioning of the electric arc furnace and the meltshop will happen in December and it will show improvement from the next quarter itself,” Rao said. “We are investing $25-$40 million and recommissioning that unit like Monnet,” Rao said.

Source: THE ECONOMIC TIMES