India: JSW Steel Restarts All 7 Blast Furnaces

Crawling back to normalcy after the Covid-19 blow to operations and production disruptions in April, India's second largest private steel manufacturer JSW Steel has resumed operations at all its seven blast furnaces (BFs), including the one at the Dolvi plant in Maharashtra which was shut last month.

According to sources, the company has decided to keep capacity utilization rate at 60% considering low export orders and lack of demand in the domestic market. Flat steel inventory has piled up to close to 1 month's as compared to 12-14 days in normal circumstances. The steel maker has rolled over prices for May but keeping a watch on competitors in the flats segment and will likely revise prices on a case-to-case basis for long products.

JSW Steel produced 0.56 MnT of crude steel in April, almost 60% lower year-on-year, with capacity utilisation falling 38% in the first full month of the Covid-19 induced lockdown.

Flat steel output for April was pegged at 0.34 MnT while production of longs fell to 0.9 MnT amid acute demand dearth with construction and infrastructure activities in the country coming to a standstill.

With domestic demand drying up, almost 80% of total production is being earmarked for exports. China has roughly a share of 40% in the total exports, informed Parth Jindal, CEO, JSW Cement, at a construction industry webinar recently.

~ By Nirmalya Deb