Bangladesh: BSRM to add 400,000 MT Melting Capacity by Mid 2018

BSRM which stands as the largest steel producer in Bangladesh and reportedly the largest billet producer in the world through the induction furnace route plans to bolster its steel production capacity further by mid 2018.

The company has set up a 400,000 MT billet production facility in Chittagong to take its total billet production capacity to 1.6 million tonne per annum. This move would further consolidate BSRM's position as the largest steel producer in Bangladesh.

While Speaking to SteelMint, Managing Director of BSRM Aameir Alihussain, revealed that the move was important as BSRM's re-rolling capacity stands at around 1.6 MnT. "We had decided to increase our billet production to balance out the difference in rerolling and steel production capacity so as to maximize our finished product output".

According to Alihussain, the increase in capacity would be supported by the growth in per capita steel consumption in the country which has had a positive trend from the last couple of years.

GPH Ispat to commission mega EAF by Dec'2018

Another major industrial player in Bangladesh GPH Ispat is set to commission its 0.8 MnT Electric Arc Furnace by December 2018. The plant which is nearing completion is to be only the second Electric Arc Furnace in the country after Abul Khair Steel.

The EAF would be able to maximize capacity utilization by 2019, after necessary fine tuning. GPH Ispat, with its new plant, plans to cater to superior quality, high strength steel demand in Bangladesh, the availability for which still remains limited.

Estimated rise in scrap demand

According to senior market participants scrap imports to Bangladesh are likely to shoot-up significantly over the next two years. BSRM estimates its scrap demand to be around 1.6 MnT by end of 2019. Whereas GPH Ispat has estimated its scrap demand to be close to 1 MnT by 2020.

The two steel producers would add at least 0.9 MnT of additional scrap demand in the next two years, from their new capacities alone. Notably, most of Bangladesh's major steel producers primarily consume imported scrap since local obsolete scrap generation is marginal and ship breaking scrap is directly used by re-rollers.