SteelMint: Over 150,000 t crude steelmaking capacity receives govt approvals in April

New domestic crude steelmaking capacity that received necessary government approvals in Apr'22 stands at 156,000 tonnes (t), as per data maintained with SteelMint.

New capacity that received consent to establish (CTE) since Apr'21 stands at around 12.5 mnt, of which the share of the BF-BOF route is 2 mnt or 16%, while the rest 10.49 mnt is accounted for by the electric-induction furnace route at a share of 84%, data reveals.

Indian steel mills are expanding capacity via forward and backward integration to meet rising steel demand. Data shows that since Apr'21 the sponge iron producers have received approval to expand capacity by 8.5 mnt.

India's annual sponge iron production capacity is currently assessed at 59-60 mnt. About 20 mnt of capacity expansion proposals have received government approvals in the form of environment clearance (EC) and consent to establish (CTE) between Jan'21- Mar'22.

In addition, rolling long steel capacity receiving CTE in Apr stood at 252,000 t.

However, capacity addition slowed down in Apr. In Mar, around 880,000 t of crude steel capacity received CTE, which was higher by over 33% compared with 660,000 t in Feb. However, Jan witnessed capacity approvals at around 1.09 mnt - the highest monthly figure so far in the current calendar year.

CTE

The approval concerned is consent to establish (CTE). Notably, new technology is envisaged for projects at the CTE stage of clearance. Such projects have received approval for existing unit capacity expansion through process optimisation, modification and increase in operational days.

Existing unit capacity expansion through installation of new machinery and equipment also falls under CTE, which is followed by the consent to operate (CTO).