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Jindal Stainless is the largest producer of stainless steel in the country and also one of the biggest suppliers to Europe. Shashi Bhushan Upadhyay, Resident Director (Odisha), Jindal Stainless discusses the company’s strategy for maintaining its lead
Q What is the logistics requirements for your plant in Odisha, and what are the short-term and long-term strategy towards it?
We are setting up an ICD at Kalinganagar Industrial Complex since the lone operational ICD there doesn’t have rail connectivity and a majority of their cargo is generated by our plant. We have roped in Gateway Distiparks to operate an ICD on gross revenue sharing basis but we are planning to get a license to operate the ICD. We are looking forward to commission the ICD in January 2017.
Q What is the volume of containers generated by the Kalinganagar plant?
An average 2,200 containers per month are moved for our plant in Kalinganagar. Earlier we used to import 1,700 boxes through Visakhapatnam and 300 through Paradip followed by Kolkata and Haldia. Maxicon Container Line used to call twice a month at Paradip Port to bring our cargo from Vietnam. We have stopped using Paradip Port since last couple of months because of higher cost and after commissioning of railway siding at our plant it is cheaper to move containers through Visakhapatnam and now majority of import containers come through Visakhapatnam. However, we will start using Paradip Port once the new terminal starts operation at the port. But still 1,50,000 tonne coal is moved by rail from Paradip to Kalinganagar.
Q What are the commodities that you import in containers?
Containerised import commodities largely consist of stainless steel scrap, mild steel scrap, shredded scrap, ferronickel, fluxes, dolomite, and refractory.
Q What is the overall production capacity of the Kalinganagar unit, and what is the existing capacity usage?
Annual stainless steel production capacity of the plant is 0.8 million tonnes and we are looking forward to ramp up production capacity to 1 million tonnes in 2017. Currently, the plant is operating at about 0.75-0.77 million tonnes. We are also one of the largest manufacturer of ferro chrome, and we produce around 18,000 tonnes per month at Kalinganagar which will be increased to 22,000 tonnes per month. Our Hisar plant has an annual stainless production capacity of 0.8 million tonnes, hence we are the largest producer of stainless steel in the country, and we have about 55 per cent of domestic market share.
Q Do you import low ash metcoke?
We import coking coal andproduce low ash metcoke to meet the requirement for production of ferro alloy. We import around 50,000 tonnes per month, apart from 1-1.5 lakh tonnes of thermal coal. However, import of thermal coal depends on the pricing of domestic coal price. Currently, domestic coal price is cheaper so we procure it from the domestic market. Thermal coal is used by two thermal power plants of 125 MW each. Thermal coal largely comes from Indonesia. Domestic coal supply has increased. Due to presence of number of power plants in the region though prices of coal has not come down but quality of coal has improved.
Q What is the export volume of containerised cargo from Kalinganagar unit?
We export around 800 TEUs per month and 100 FEUs per month. Hence, roughly we export around 20,000-21,000 tonne of containerized cargo from Kalinganagar. Finished stainless steel in coil, shredded and plate forms are exported from the plant. We are one of the biggest supplier to Europe, and we also export to our plant in Indonesia. We export around 8,000-9,000 tonne of stainless steel in containers to the Europe. Some of the other market are the US, Middle East and Russia. Earlier Russia was a major export market for us and about 200 FEUs used to be exported to the country, however the devaluation of currency has disrupted export to the country.
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