USE MORE SPONGE IRON IN ELECTRIC
STEEL INDUSTRY-SHRI TRIPATHY
The Steel
Minister Shri Braja Kishore Tripathy has asked the Electric Steel
Industry Sector to use more sponge iron to supplement import of
steel melting scrap. Inaugurating the Annual General Meeting and
Conference of All India Induction Furnace Association, he said
that while the international prices of steel melting scraps have
gone up, the indigenous availability of sponge iron has increased
considerably. The tremendous growth of sponge iron industry in
the country will help growth in electric steel industry and value
added items.
He said that
the secondary steel sector has produced more steel during the
current year than the previous year. Around 35 per cent of the
total production of steel in the country comes from electric steel
melting route. He said " I am sure that the electric steel producers
will further increase their share of production in the coming
years. Besides contributing to increased steel production, electric
steel industry will also continue to meet the localised steel
demand and provide job opportunities to the people in their areas
of operation. "
Referring to
energy problem faced by the sector, Shri Tripathy said, energy
consumption of the electric based steel plants needs to be reduced.
The costing of steel of this sector depends on power. He said
that the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission is expected
to come up with rationalised power tariffs soon. The Ministry
would take up the matter with concerned authorities for rationalisation
of power tariffs of electric steel manufacturers.
He said that the
national steel policy is almost finalised. It envisages good demand
for steel and considerable increase in the consumption in the
next 20 years. The points made in the National Steel Policy will
be considered by various sectors, particularly the infrastructure
sector. It is intended to look into all those factors, which may
increase the domestic steel consumption.
There are over 550
Induction Furnace units in the country having nearly 3500 numbers
of Induction Melting Furnaces of various capacities. The annual
capacity of the industry is around 8.3 million tonnes for production
of mild steel, stainless steel, and special steel casting and
alloy castings. Direct export of products of Induction Furnace
Industry in 2002-03 was over Rs. 200 crore.
The Minister presented
the distinguished Stainless Steel Industry Award, Ispat Ratna
Award, Dhatu Naik Award and Appreciation Mementos to the winning
industrial houses. Shri R.L.Bhatia, MP and a patron of AIIFA released
the souvenir from directory 2003 of the Association. Ms. Binoo
Sen, Secretary Steel, Shri J.P.Singh, Joint Secretary, Steel and
Chairman, JPC, Shri Gopal Gupta, President AIIFA and Shri Navin
Jindal, Industrialist spoke on the occasion.
