India: Prakash Industries registers record sponge iron output in FY20

Steel producer Prakash Industries posted an 8% increase in sponge iron output to 820,000t in FY2019-20, a record annual output for the company, on the back of commissioning its sixth rotary kiln.

Prakash posted a 78% fall in net profit to INR 118.19 crore in 2019-20 compared with INR 539.22 crore in 2018-19 as revenues fell. Total revenue fell to INR 2,973.64 crore in 2019-20 from INR 3,587.51 crore in 2018-19.

The company has four rolling mills with a total installed capacity of over 1 mn t per annum for producing wire rod and rebar. On an average, the company's monthly wire rod production is about 50,000-60,000 t. The company's operations include power generation and PVC pipe manufacturing. Its steelmaking units are located in Champa and Raipur in Chhattisgarh state.

Apart from starting up a rotary kiln, Prakash also commissioned four new induction furnaces in 2019-20, taking its total steel melting shop (SMS) capacity to around 1.18mn t/yr.

Prakash also started operations at its captive Sirkaguttu iron ore mine in the state of Odisha and received additional coal linkage of 169,000tpa for the next five years.

Demand for the company's long products has been steady since May'20 as infrastructure and construction activities revived after the lockdown, the company said.