JSPL hopes to achieve 85% capacity utilisation at Angul plant in 3-4 months

KOLKATA: Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) hopes to achieve a capacity utilisation level of 85% in the next three to four months at its five million tonne integrated steel plant at Angul as part of its asset sweating roadmap. The company, which commissioned a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) at Angul in December 2017, was buoyed by higher production figures in the fourth quarter of FY18.

JSPL posted its lifetime highest monthly crude steel production in the month of March 2018 with the recently completed BOF at Angul going operational. With a steel production of 0.45 million tonne in March 2018 at its integrated steel plants in Raigarh and Angul, JSPL also achieved its highest ever quarterly steel production at 1.26 million tonne in Q4 FY 2017-18. The company also posted its highest ever monthly and quarterly sales by achieving 0.45 million tonne sales in March 2018 and 1.18 million tonne during January – March (Q4) 2018. The production figures do not include the crude steel output at Jindal Shadeed, Oman.

Commenting on the performance, N A Ansari, CEO – Steel, JSPL said: “The production figures of Q4, and particularly during March 2018 are an encouraging milestone for our asset sweating roadmap. With the 250 MT Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) going operational in end December 2017, we are in a position to progressively harness the full capacity levels of our 3.2 mtpa Blast Furnace.”

“We are looking at surpassing all our performance records with every passing quarter of FY 2018-19 by achieving 85% plus capacity utilization levels at Angul in 3-4 months’ time”, he added.