V I EW P O I NT

Dear Readers,
The INR 9,000-Crore refractory industry of India has the iron and steel sector as its biggest
consumer. The non-ferrous metals, cement, and glass being also the key end-users of
refractories, the infrastructure and construction sectors, therefore, are also indirect
consumers of refractories. The steel industry met with drastically falling demand and
halted operations due to the pandemic. The infrastructure and construction projects
were also stagnated because of the lockdowns. India’s refractory business, therefore,
was severely impacted as a result of this.

Analysts are however, optimistic on the outlook of India’s refractory sector, on a long-
term basis. The challenges confronted by the refractory industry have been blessings
in disguise that have opened new avenues for the sector to restart afresh in a more robust
form. One such challenge has been the ‘no-Chinese-import’ policy followed by the nations
worldwide. India’s refractory sector was a major buyer of raw materials as well as finished goods
from China. Imports of raw material from China accounted for more than 40%. This remained a major
drawback for the sector with regard to indigenous growth. The ‘no-Chinese-import’ policy has proved
to be a big opportunity for India’s refractory sector to perk up indigenous production. India has some of
the biggest refractory players of the world making huge investments here in expanding their refractory
business. What’s more, a number of domestic players have also made a strong presence in this sector.
All these companies have high-tech facilities that produce high-grade products, customised for the
specific needs of Indian customers. Many of them are introducing new products in the market. All these
serve as the greatest examples of self-reliance and self-sufficiency, in line with the Indian government’s
‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’campaigns.

Another aspect that has proved to be quite rewarding for the refractory sector is digitalised operations
which gained enough prominence because of the pandemic. Digitalisation fast-tracked during this time
for remote operations that has further modernised the sector. Energy efficiency is yet another aspect
which has drawn attention in this sector. Efforts are being made to make the energy-intensive refractory
sector energy-efficient.

The biggest relief for India’s refractory sector has been the mammoth stimulus package of INR 5 Lakh
Crores announced during the Union Budget 2021. The infrastructure sector is going to get the biggest
support ever because of this package and the refractory industry will be highly benefitted. India’s
refractory sector has a major role to play in making the steel industry achieve its 300 MT capacity target
by 2030-31 and also in making India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ i.e. self-reliant and self-sufficient.

The August issue of Iron & Steel Review is refractory special which highlights the current stance and
the essence of India’s refractory industry.

Santosh Mahanti
Editor & CMD

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 5 | AUGUST 2021

August 2021
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A Libratherm Instruments Pvt. Ltd. ................................................................... 105

Statistics Almatis ............................................................................................... Third Cover M
126
Aman Machine Tools Pvt. Ltd. ........................................................................... 12 Maithan Ceramic Limited ...................................................................... Gate Fold
Alteo ................................................................................................................ 43 Mipalloy Nomura Plating Company LLP ........................................................... 77
World Crude Steel Production Arvind Ceramics (P) Ltd. ................................................................................... 47 MOIL Limited .................................................................................................... 93
Atomat Group ................................................................................................... 75 Mahakoshal Refractories Pvt. Ltd. .................................................................. 129
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A. S. Precision Machines Pvt. Ltd. ..................................................................... 85 N
Indian Steel Market & Prices – Arcum Engineering (P) Limited ............................................................... 106-107 Neptune ........................................................................................................... 59
June 2021 ARB Bearing Ltd. ............................................................................................ 131 Nabaltec ........................................................................................................... 55
C O
CCRT Laboratories ............................................................................................ 63 Orind Special Refractories (P) Ltd. .................................................................... 69
Creative Carbon Pvt. Ltd. ................................................................................ 121
P
D PSI ....................................................................................................... Back Cover
Danieli & C Spa ...................................................................................... 89, 90-91
Dalmia-OCL Refractories Limited .................................................. Cover, 104, 126 R
Danieli Corus India Pvt. Ltd. .............................................................................. 73 Refratechnik Steel .............................................................................................. 7
RHI Magnesita .................................................................................................. 31
E Ranchi Refractories (India) Pvt. Ltd. ................................................................. 67
Electrotherm (India) Limited .............................................................................. 9 RINL ................................................................................................................. 81
Elkem ............................................................................................................... 45
ERNST Industrieanlagen GmbH ....................................................................... 87 S
SMS group ....................................................................................... Second Cover
G SG Shinagawa Refractories India Pvt. Ltd. ........................................................ 27
Gita Refractories (P) Ltd. .................................................................................. 15 Sarvan Carbochem LLP ..................................................................................... 39
H Sarvesh Refractories Pvt. Ltd. ........................................................................... 41
H & K Rolling Mill Engineers Pvt. Ltd. ............................................................... 13 Subscription Form ............................................................................................ 78
Heatworks Pvt. Ltd. .......................................................................................... 37 SEW Eurodrive .................................................................................................. 99
Hindalco Chemicals .......................................................................................... 65 Shandong Mingren Heavy Machinery Co., Ltd. ............................................... 109
Hi-Tech Chemicals (P) Ltd. ................................................................................ 71 Steefo Industries Private Limited ...................................................................... 83
I T
Indiana Machine Tools ...................................................................................... 10 Transformers & Rectifiers (India) Ltd. ............................................................... 11
TRL Krosaki Refractories Limited ...................................................................... 29
J TVQ Coke Oven Consultants (P) Ltd. ................................................................ 103
Jindal Steel & Power Limited .......................................................................... 123
V
K Vezzani ............................................................................................................ 17
KELK ................................................................................................................. 35 VELCO GmbH .................................................................................................. 125
Khemka Refractories Private Limited ............................................................... 49 V. K. Industrial Corporation Limited ................................................................ 127
L Z
LAEIS GmbH ..................................................................................................... 33 Zumbach ........................................................................................................ 101
REFRACTORY SPECIAL
The Indian Refractory Industry
and Its Way Forward
The Indian refractory industry is worth INR 9,000-Crore
market with some of the world’s leading players dominating
the country’s refractory business. The iron & steel, non-ferrous
metals, cement and glass industries are the major end-users of
refractories. The iron & steel industry is the biggest consumer of
refractories, accounting for over 60% of the market. Therefore,
the fate of the nation’s refractory industry is determined
considerably by the stance of the steel industry. The worldwide
outbreak of the pandemic and the related measures implemented
have shaken the very base of global business. The steel and the
construction industries have been the most severely affected
sectors. The refractory industry of India, therefore, is also hit
hard. Nevertheless, challenges have opened new avenues for the
Indian refractory industry to revive in a new form.
The major players of refractories
The world’s leading refractory companies like, RHI
Magnesita, Refratechnik Group, Imerys Group, Calderys, TRL
Krosaki, Vesuvius, Shinagawa Refractories, etc., have made
big investments in the country. Indigenous companies have also
proliferated their refractory business. IFGL Refractories, Dalmia-
IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 14 | AUGUST 2021
VOL. 65 NO. 3
goudarefractories
OCL Refractories, Orind Special Refractories, Maithan Ceramic,
etc. are some of the leading Indian companies. All the companies
have state-of-the-art facilities and R&D centres. High-grade
refractory products are manufactured from their plants.
Capacity expansions
The Indian refractory industry, which encountered almost a
standstill situation in 2020, is now seeing investments by foreign
companies to expand their business here. The Imerys Group, for
instance, has invested INR 350 Crores for commissioning a new
calcium aluminate plant in Visakhapatnam in the State of Andhra
Pradesh. The plant will manufacture calcium aluminium binders
SECAR® 70V and SECAR® 68V. These customised products,
adapted to local needs, will meet the specific needs of the nation’s
refractory and construction industries. This is also in line with
the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar
Bharat’ drives. Another striking feature is that the plant was
commissioned from remote Europe, applying the leading-edge
technologies of Industry 4.0.
REFRACTORY SPECIAL
Digitalisation
Industry 4.0 has invaded the manufacturing industry in the
nations worldwide in different degrees. The refractory industry
is not an exception to this. In India, the elements of digitalisation
like IoT, Big Data, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence,
etc. are implemented by the top notch refractory players. And
this implementation has further accelerated due to an increasing
emphasis of remote operations and their control because of the
onset of the pandemic.
Energy efficiency
The refractory industry is an energy-intensive sector.
Therefore, efforts are being made to make this sector energy
efficient. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), has found
a good possibility to save energy in the refractory industry. TERI
has started this mission with the state of Andhra Pradesh, where
a study was conducted in 26 refractory units of an MSME cluster
in East Godavari district, producing 62,500 Tonnes per year. It
was found that around 10% of energy, i.e. 8.3 Million Units that
costs nearly Rs. 5.56 Crores, can be saved per annum. These
units consume 99.4% of thermal energy and 0.6% of electrical
energy, leading to 40,313 Tonnes of CO2 emission per annum. As
per energy audit reports, only 20% of energy is useful while the
remaining 80% gets wasted.
Import dependency
One of the key issues that the Indian refractory industry has
been struggling with is its high dependency of imports of raw
materials as well as finished products. This has been a long-
drawn challenge for the industry and China has been a major
destination for imports. More than 40% of the raw materials
are being imported from China. In 2018-19 and 2019-20, India
IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 16 | AUGUST 2021
VOL. 65 NO. 3
mineralmilling
imported high alumina refractory cement worth INR 12 Crores
and INR 25.3 Crores, respectively.
The pandemic has urged many countries to boycott Chinese
imports. This ‘no-Chinese-import’ policy is, in fact, a big
opportunity for India to boost its indigenous production. The
presence of some of the biggest refractory players in the country
with their state-of-the-art facilities and high-grade products can
lead the domestic industry towards self-sufficiency. This has
also urged some companies to expand their plant capacities and
introduce new products in the market that are apt for the Indian
scenario.
The way forward
The pandemic has been the biggest challenge ever for the
global business. Industrial operations even ceased to exist in
many sectors. The refractory industry of India was one of the most
severely affected sectors that had to confront drastically falling
demand in the market from its end-user segments. However, on
long-term basis, the outlook for the Indian refractory industry
remains positive. Challenges have also opened many doors to
opportunities for this sector. Apart from indigenising production,
the refractory industry is also making several attempts to create
new channels for local vendors. But, the greatest impetus perhaps
is the stimulus package declared by the Indian government in the
Union Budget 2021. The 5-Lakh Crore package declared for kick-
starting infrastructure projects in the country is quite an optimistic
drive for the growth of India’s refractory sector. This will not only
help the refractory industry in being a major support for the steel
industry in achieving the 300-MT steelmaking capacity target by
2030-31, but also in making India ‘Aatmanirbhar’ i.e. self-reliant
and self-sufficient.
By our special correspondent
REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3

INTERVIEW

Parmod Sagar, MD & CEO

RHI Magnesita India Ltd.

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 18 | AUGUST 2021

REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3

INTERVIEW

RHI Magnesita has ambitious

growth plans in India:
Parmod Sagar

RHI Magnesita’s Indian subsidiary Orient Refractories has been renamed as RHI Magnesita India Ltd. This followed the merger
of two Indian arms RHI Clasil Pvt. Ltd. and RHI India Pvt. Ltd. into Orient Refractories Ltd. in June 2021. Parmod Sagar,
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed RHI Magnesita India Ltd., discusses in this interview,
about the significance of this amalgamation as to how is it going to benefit the business. Sagar also shares with us the company’s
immediate and long term growth plans. The pandemic has generated some challenges for the company and RHI is striving
against all odds to move ahead. Let us see what MD and CEO Parmod Sagar has to say regarding this.

Congratulations on completing the merger of the Indian What will be the key growth drivers for RHI Magnesita India
entities of RHI Magnesita. What has changed for the Indian in coming days? What are your immediate and long term
operations with this merger? growth plans?

It took us more than two years to go through the legal and
procedural exercise to eventually complete the amalgamation.
The merger of the two unlisted companies of us in India into the
listed entity Orient Refractories Ltd. has given birth to the largest
public listed refractory company in the country – RHI Magnesita
India Ltd. The integration has enabled us to synergise, simplify
and consolidate our strength in India to serve our ever growing
customers better. It has enhanced the business and operational
synergies by pooling of management expertise, technologies and
other resources between the businesses. RHI Magnesita India is
now providing customers with one single refractory solutions
platform offering the industry’s most comprehensive and modern
product, service and technology solutions portfolio.
We have ambitious growth plans. Our growth strategy revolves
around the key pillars of capacity expansion, capability
enhancement and automation & digitisation. We are currently
expanding capacity in all our three plants in India at Bhiwadi, Vizag
and Cuttack. Along with the expansion, we are also modernising
the facilities with new age machineries and equipment. Under
a technology transfer arrangement with our European and
American plants, we are also enhancing our capability to make
certain high-end products in our Indian plants which would work
as import substitutes for our customers in India. You would see us
manufacturing more and more of technically advanced products
in our Indian facilities under this ‘Make in India’ initiative of our

How do the financials of the company stake up post-merger?

What is the financial forecast for the merged company in the
current year?

We clocked a revenue of INR 1383 Crores for the FY 2020-

21. Despite a highly challenging year severely impacted by
COVID-19 and subsequent lockdowns, we could maintain our
PAT to 2019 levels with a marginal increment. We posted a net
profit of about INR 137 Crores for the FY’21. Considering the
current buoyant demand situation, particularly from the Steel
sector, we expect to deliver double digit growth in the current
year, both in topline and bottom line.

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 19 | AUGUST 2021

REFRACTORY SPECIAL
INTERVIEW
own. Apart from this, we are aggressively pursuing our Digital Go
to Market initiatives. We have recently deployed a new Microsoft
CRM system. The system would work in synch with our recently
upgraded latest ERP system – SAP S/4 HANA, enabling us to
serve our customers faster and with better efficiency. We are also
IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 20 | AUGUST 2021
VOL. 65 NO. 3
offering our customers digital solutions like Automated Process
Optimisation (APO) to improve customer performance.
How has been your latest acquired plant at Cuttack
performing? Do we expect more M&A activities by you in the
Indian market in near future?
We operationalised the plant from January 2020 and initiated our
strategic actions to stabilise the plant in terms of productivity
improvement, machinery upgradation, quality standardisation,
logistic alignment and skilled manpower engagement. However,
the unforeseen hurdles brought in by the COVID-19 related
lockdowns early last year derailed our plans to a large extent.
We could stabilise the operations of the plant towards the first
quarter of the current year. Since January 2021, the plant has been
operating at its optimum capacity. We have committed about 20
Crores for capacity expansion of the plant. By year end, we would
be increasing capacity from current 18000 TPA to 24000 TPA.
M&A in the Indian market is a definite part of our growth strategy.
We are pursuing this and depending upon strategic fitment, we
would engage with potential match. This is an ongoing process
and nothing really to disclose at the moment.
Your key customer sector Steel has been performing well in
last few quarters. How do you read the market condition?
Yes, Steel and Cement both have been on an upswing. Steel
production and prices have seen steep rise from the last quarter
of 2020. The market has maintained the buoyancy. However, we
have not yet been able to benefit much from it due to the rise
in raw material prices and international sea freight. Our margins
have been under tremendous pressure. We have been following up
with our customer for price increase. This remains a priority topic
for us now. We are hopeful that our customers would definitely
respond positively to our genuine price hike to help us maintain
our bottom line too.
REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3
INTERVIEW

“India is one of Imerys’ key

growth markets” –
Segi P. Idicula, MD, Imerys India

India is one of the fastest growing markets for refractories in the world,
and therefore, would remain one of the high focus regions for Imerys,
states Segi P. Idicula, Managing Director of Imerys India.

In an interview with Iron & Steel Review magazine, Segi P. Idicula provides
us with the details of the upcoming plant in Visakhapatnam, which is going
to enhance India’s refractory capacity. He also discusses at length about
Imerys’ products and proficiency in digitalisation.

Segi P. Idicula, Managing Director

Imerys India

How has been the financial and operational performance of for other refractory products? How is the plant’s capacity
Imerys India in FY 2020-21? addition going to add value to the Indian refractory industry?

Imerys’ businesses in India did about INR 1275 Crores in the
calendar year 2020. Operations were suspended or run with
minimal manpower during the year, strictly adhering to the
COVID protocols put in place by Imerys as well as by the Central
& State governments in the country. Health & Safety comes first
for Imerys across all industrial sites and
offices and no compromise whatsoever is “Imerys has invested
made on this key aspect.
INR 350 Crores in the
We would like to know about the
INR 350-Crore investment by Imerys
Vizag plant”
Imerys has invested INR 350 Crores in the Vizag plant, which
has a capacity of 30K Tonnes per Annum and will produce our
industry leading SECAR brand of aluminate binders. The facility
helps augment the domestic production and supply of high-
quality products for use in a range of important and growing areas
of industrial activity in India, including
construction and steel manufacturing.
And the plant has been built to scale up.
We plan to ramp capacity up to around
50K Tonnes per Annum by 2025.

in its calcium aluminate plant in The new plant will supply the refractory
Visakhapatnam. In this context, please tell us something on market with SECAR 70V, a calcium aluminate binder with
®

Imerys’ SECAR range. How good will it be a substitute

®
controlled chemistry and optimised mineralogy for conventional

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 21 | AUGUST 2021

REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3
INTERVIEW
castable applications, and SECAR® 68V, a calcium aluminate swiftly apply and adapt technology and digitally driven processes
binder dedicated to growing demand in low cement castables. to complete the project despite the logistical challenges presented
These products have been developed by Imerys scientists to meet by lockdowns.
the specific needs of the Indian refractory producers, adapted to
Over the past year, colleagues in India, France and the UK worked
the climate of the sub-continent.
virtually to complete the final stages of
Our Vizag plant will also serve as a
“We will soon be constructing this complex state-of-the-
distribution centre for imported ready- art calcium aluminates facility. This
to-use mortars and bentonite solutions relaunching our was a great example of the practical
to serve the fast-growing infrastructure Zirconia products application of Industry 4.0 technology
sector for applications, such as
wastewater management, tunnelling and
under the new that we hear so much about these days
and a result of our accelerated efforts to
civil engineering. brand ZIONIC” digitise and innovate across functions.

The Indian refractory market is Engineers working on the project in

estimated to be 1 Billion Euro or approximately INR 8500 Crores India wore helmet-mounted cameras which gave colleagues
with 16 to 17% of refractory materials currently imported. India’s at the Imerys Technology Centre in Lyon, France, a real-time
current refractory production capacity is gathered to be around window into their progress and allowed them to address technical
1.5 Million Tonne per Annum. To this market, we have brought challenges quickly – with efficiency and precision. In the future,
our global and industry-leading technical and manufacturing remote assistance technology, such as the one being discussed
standards and applied them locally to make bespoke products for here, is expected to greatly help timely on-site interventions
India without compromising on quality without being physically present.
or consistency.
“Imerys has always The remote commissioning of the
What
products
are the
raw
other
materials
refractory
Imerys
been at the leading plant is a good example of many of the
attributes for which Imerys is recognised
offers? Is the company planning for edge of innovation in the markets in which we operate,
any addition to its product basket? and technology including India: execution excellence,
highly experienced local teams, global
Imerys’ strength is in its extremely
but the pandemic technological prowess and a bespoke
diverse customer portfolio and our
ability to serve customers of all accentuated approach to individual sectors and

sizes across India, with the broadest digitalisation across
portfolio of refractory minerals. Within
refractories, our MULCOA, SECAR,
our business”
DAMREC, and ALODUR brands are
considered the benchmarks for quality and consistency in their
respective categories. We will soon be relaunching our Zirconia
products under the new brand ZIONIC.
In the last one year, how forcefully has digitalisation taken
over the operations at Imerys India?
Imerys has always been at the leading edge of innovation and
technology but the pandemic accentuated digitalisation across
our business. Initiatives which we would previously execute
completely on site were reimagined. The remote commissioning
of the Vizag plant is a good example of how we were able to
markets that focuses on the needs of our
customers.
The Union Budget 2021 has made
announcements to boost up the
nation’s infrastructure. What new avenues is this going to
open up for the Indian refractory industry?
We remain confident about the long-term growth prospects of the
Indian economy and our INR 350-Crore investment reflects this.
As a longstanding foreign investor in India, we continue to be
encouraged by public policies to boost the domestic manufacturing
capacity and our own investments reflect the strong demand
prospects for the materials we produce; we expect the majority of
the 30K Tonnes per Annum of calcium aluminates manufactured
in Vizag will be for domestic offtake.

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 22 | AUGUST 2021

REFRACTORY SPECIAL
INTERVIEW
The Vizag plant will also help strengthen India’s domestic
industrial supply chain for high-growth sectors including steel
and construction, and it will substantially contribute to the
refractory market in India where many players rely on Imerys’
materials for their high-performance monolithic refractories. We
would also start producing specific grades of aluminates that are
needed for the construction market very soon.
At the state level, we have had positive cooperation from Andhra
Pradesh State government and the state’s Industrial Infrastructure
Corporation during the development of this project at Vizag. It
has been a highly efficient and productive partnership throughout,
reflecting the state’s ambition to become a leading industrial hub
in India and a destination for FDI.
What is your opinion on the issue of “We remain very
refractory raw materials? It has been a
long drawn one. How do you think the
confident in the
indigenous supply can be boosted up? prospects for Indian
There are many large steel producers infrastructure growth
and construction companies in the areas and the corresponding
surrounding Vizag, so we see strong
demand for refractories and other
growth of the
high-temperature materials within the refractories market”
region and across the country. Calcium
aluminate is the key binder for monolithic
refractories and it was important for Imerys to ensure domestic
supply was augmented to reduce complex logistics, delays and
overall dependence on external sources. The Vizag plant will
go a long way to boost the refractory capacity in India, which
also aligns both with the Federal government’s ‘Aatmanirbhar
Bharat’ agenda, as well as the efforts the State of Andhra Pradesh
is undertaking to further its position as a significant regional
industrial hub.
IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 23 | AUGUST 2021
VOL. 65 NO. 3
There is a general shortage of quality raw materials for the
refractory industry. Reserves in the country are depleting, leading
to quality issues as well as availability concerns. Local production
of high-performance raw materials like calcium aluminates
address at least part of the problem.
What is your growth outlook for India’s refractories market
after this temporary slowdown due to COVID?
We remain very confident in the prospects for Indian infrastructure
growth and the corresponding growth of the refractories market.
There are US$ 1.4-Trillion Indian infrastructure projects in the
pipeline, with much of this investment slated for the next four
to five years. Of course, there will be delays due to COVID but
these are not projects that are going
to go away as they are central to the
country’s development ambitions.
India is one of Imerys’ key growth
markets; we have been encouraged
by the business-friendly environment
and are focused on continuing to serve
the market and growing our product
offer and business here.
Where will you place India now
in the global refractories market?
Where do you see India’s position
in the world after a decade?
India is one of the fastest growing markets for refractories in the
global map, thanks to the demand spurred by the growth in core
sector industries, mainly steel and cement. Looking at the glaring
gap between per capita consumption of steel in the world and that
in India (229 Kg vs. 76 Kg), this country would be one of the
high focus regions for Imerys. The huge market, technological
prowess, and highly skilled manpower in the country should lead
India to one of the most sought after destinations of the world.
REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3
INTERVIEW

“Alteo has a 125-year long

history and a unique mastering of
alumina production”

Alteo is a world leader in speciality aluminas. The French

company is currently operating a new office in Mumbai to
support the growth of the Indian alumina market.
In an interview with Iron & Steel Review, Subrata Roy,
General Manager, Alteo India Aluminas Pvt. Ltd., talks
about the company’s product innovation, services and
customer base. He also provides a glimpse of Alteo’s newly
formed subsidiary in India.

Subrata Roy
General Manager, Alteo India Aluminas Pvt. Ltd.

Alteo is a global leader in speciality aluminas. Could you In 2019, Alteo decided to open its own office in Mumbai, adding to
tell us something about the global business and customer its presence on the Indian market through exclusive distribution.
satisfaction? The physical presence in India has allowed us to work on long

Alteo is a worldwide leading speciality alumina producer. We
supply close to 1,000 plants worldwide with hydrated, calcined,
reactive, low and very low soda alumina through an extensive
network of sales offices and local inventory points.
Customer satisfaction is the key for us, as we serve speciality
markets, in which interactions with customers are crucial, and
business relationships are long-lasting.
We understand that Alteo has a huge customer base globally.
How good is your business in India?
We have a long presence in India through an exclusive distributor.
term development and ensure a good understanding of market
conditions and customer needs.
We are now working on increasing our logistic capabilities to
enhance customer service in India, with a first stock point opening
in the coming weeks in Visakhapatnam.
Could you please tell us something about your innovation and
products?
Alteo has a 125-year long history and, therefore, a unique
mastering of alumina production. During the last years, we have
increased significantly our capabilities to supply alumina that is

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REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3
INTERVIEW
Our global turnover was around 190 M€ last year. Business in
India has been strongly impacted by the local sanitary situation,
and this has reduced our sales locally. However, despite the
sanitary crisis, we continued to implement our strategy, focusing
our development on more specialised markets, especially in the
refractory and ceramic industries.

Apart from ferrous and non-ferrous industries, what other

industries does Alteo cater to?

Speciality alumina has a very large range of applications. Besides

refractory, we have a very strong position on advanced ceramics
Alteo Plant (insulators and engineered ceramics) and fillers and coating

chemically purer and finer. Our last development is a high purity (thermal dissipation, battery separators).
alumina (3N5) that provides our customers purity at an affordable Alteo India Aluminas Private Limited is a newly formed
price.
subsidiary of the French company. Please tell us about this
We have more disruptive development and plan to communicate new Indian branch?
on it in the coming months. Under Alteo Technology, we have an
The opening of this office illustrates our will to support our
R&D team that addresses both product innovation and technology
sales. clients in their growth by being as close as possible to their needs.
After two years of presence in India under our own name, we are
Customer support has been one of your main focuses. Could
now developing our presence through local inventories in order
you please tell us about your services?
to reduce the lead-time for our customers.
We believe strongly in local presence. Our production is
concentrated in the south of France, but we have developed a very
strong global network with 17 sales offices around the world,
which is unique among alumina producers. This means we have
a significant number of stock points around the world, allowing
our customers to have quick access to most of our product range
with local competitive terms. This is particularly important for
our customers in an uncertain economic situation.

Could you please tell us about your company’s turnover

globally and in India?

Alteo Speciality aluminas

How do you see Alteo’s business in India three years down

the line?

The underlying of India’s economic growth is still very strong,

and undoubtedly, India’s economy will grow strongly again. So,
we definitely expect strong growth sales in the mains markets
we are active on, with a growth of around 10% per year of our
turnover. By reducing the lead-time to the market, we expect
also to increase our customer portfolio by being able to deliver
Alteo R&D medium-size customers more efficiently.

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REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3

Advances in Process Technology

of Monolithic Refractory Castables
Dr. Avijit Das Gupta, Director (Production)
Krishna Kumar Sah, Director (Digital Marketing)
Arun Kumar, Director (Marketing)
Refracto Technologies India Pvt. Ltd., Belgaum, Karnataka

Modern Refractory Castables are characterised by high thermo-mechanical properties, better corrosive and slag resistance
properties, and high hot strength (Hot MOR) and RUL. The more sophisticated the Castables product, such as pre-cast shapes and
lances, etc., the more sensitive they are for the application of the product, starting with mixing, setting, workability, dispersion, flow
and low water demand and the right selection of raw material.
Better properties are achieved by better particle packing with fine and ultra-fine Reactive Alumina. It is also necessary to control the
setting time and workability at various ambient temperatures, by adding into the mix new active compounds and dispersing agents
like retarders and accelerators. It is necessary also to improve the flow of refractory mass for proper placement and installation at
working sites.
The drying process is equally important and this is improved by enhancing the permeability, by reducing the hydrated phases as in
Cement. In ULCC and NCC, there can be higher drying rates and fast removal of steam, due to increase of permeability with no
crack formation, resulting in great high-temperature properties. Recently, new binder systems have been developed for the range of
Castables from LCC to ULCC and NCC. For these binder systems, Nanotechnology has been used for Silica Sol, Colloidal Silica
and Micro-Silica Gel bond in No-Cement Castables, which has vastly improved the flow properties and high-temperature thermo-
mechanical properties.
This article examines the recent advances in process technology of modern Castables and Nanotechnology.

Improvements in casting techniques for better properties of time at worksites, and obtain working time and setting time in the
castables temperature range of 25°C to 35°C in Indian conditions.
Controlled setting behaviour of Refractory Castables is not A new Compound REFPAC (R) 500 can stabilise the setting
always possible, as it varies with temperatures for Deflocculated time at ambient temperatures (2). It has both mineral phases and
Castables. This can be long for low temperatures, and shorter organic additions. The chemical composition is mainly Al2O3,
for high temperatures. For Low Cement Castables, the hydration CaO, MgO and LOI < 10%. This compound was tried out (2)
mechanism of Calcium Alumina phases present in Cement on Alumina Spinal Castable Mixing using Magnesia Alumina
depends upon time and temperature as shown in Table 1. Cement and REFPAC (R) 500. There are several ways of
Table 1: Hydrated Phases in Cement observing setting behaviour; one is by measuring the speed of
propagation of an ultrasonic wave through the Castable from
Temperature Hydration Reactions
mixing to hardening (Fig. 1).
<27°C 3CA + 12H  C3AH6 + 2AH3
2CAH10  C2AH8 + AH3 + 9H
3C2AH8 2C3AH6 + AH + 9H

The different hydrating phases influence the setting behaviour

and also the mechanical strength development of Deflocculated
Castables. The temperature dependent setting causes difficulties
at work sites, due to flash setting in warm countries and extended
demoulding in cold countries. It is possible to influence the setting
with retarders and accelerators. There are a number of critical
additives that are used. Retarders commonly used are Citric
Acids and for acceleration it is Lithium Salts. It has an effect
of accelerating at low temperatures, but at higher temperatures,
it impacts the properties. Due to shortage of Lithium Silicates, Figure 1: The impact of temperature on velocity profile of an ultrasonic
Lithium-free accelerators are used to achieve acceptable setting measurement

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REFRACTORY SPECIAL
It was concluded that the above additives up to 1%, stabilises
the setting and working time as a function of temperature, in
contrast to the temperature dependence that is typically observed
in Castables. It makes the placing and hardening properties more
stable and predictable despite ambient temperature variations.
There are no negative effects on mechanical strength and there is
an increase in strength at intermediate temperatures.
Figure 2: Ultrasonic test cell
Use of viscosity optimised reactive alumina
In modern refractory application, there is demand for high
thermo-mechanical properties, and necessity for easy workability
during installation at sites. Highest refractoriness and very good
slag resistance properties can be achieved by low water demand,
and for the Castable viscosity to be minimum, when it is mixed
with water.
Reactive Alumina NABALOX (R) 530, allow both the water
demand to be low, but also with free flowing consistency and
compact rheology (1). A tabular Alumina formulation with different
grain sizes, was tried out along with this Reactive Alumina.
IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 28 | AUGUST 2021
VOL. 65 NO. 3
The results can be tabulated as:
l Good workability is achieved quickly
l Lower water addition
l Lower power consumption at source
l Shorter time for wet out and fully dispersed
Results of power consumption during the Castable mixing
process are an important tool for understanding if the mixing
process is complete or not. The mixing process is monitored
and a graph is made, with mixing time in seconds and power
consumption on X Axis. Two plots are made, one for comparison
using common Bi Modal Reactive Alumina, and the other using
NABALOX (R) 530.
Two new terms have been expressed – the Wet Out Point, a
state where, during the mixing process of the Castable, all the
particles have been wetted. At this point, power consumption is
the highest, due to the tough consistency of the mix. Once this
point is passed, the dispersion of the particles starts to improve,
and the viscosity decreases till complete dispersion occurs. At
this point, the highest flow ability is achieved.
Ultrasonic measurement to study hardening of cement
Ultrasonic velocity can be used to study the onset of the
hardening process after setting and strength development, which
takes place after some time. In the ultrasonic velocity, rates
increase and a gradual flattening of curves occurs, which signifies
the hardening process and happens when velocity rates are plotted
against time, along with the cold crushing strength (Fig. 3).
Figure 3: Ultrasonic velocity and cold crushing strength (CCS), plotted
against time
The measuring process
The ultrasonic measuring mould is shown in Figure 2. The
wet mixed Castable is placed in the mould and vibrated. A signal
is generated from a Peizoelectric Transducer, and the speed of
the signal is measured and plotted as a function of time, which
 Table 1: Chemical composition of Refractory Bauxites
RGB / (%) Al2O3 SiO2 Fe2O3 TiO2 RO* R2O**
LT 84.8 8.06 3.80 1.63 0.39 0.14
RT1 86.5 7.01 1.60 3.59 0.45 0.15
RT2 85.9 7.76 1.28 3.43 0.65 0.27
*RO = MgO + CaO; **R2O = K2O + Na2O
 Table 2: Physicochemical properties of Refractory Bauxites
RGB (type) Porosity (%) Absorption (%) Bulk Density (g/cm3)
LT 7.88 2.53 3.12
RT1 6.38 2.12 3.01
RT2 4.78 1.47 3.24

Table 3: Mineralogical composition of Refractory Bauxites

Crystalline Phases (%) RGB
Mineral Chemical LT RT1 RT2
Name Formula
Corundum Al2O3 78.8 79.7 80.2
Mullite Al4+2xSi2-2xO10-x 19.4 15.4 16.0
Rutile TiO2 - 0.50 0.98
Tialite Al2TiO5 - 4.40 2.90
Hematite Fe2O3 1.80 - -
REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3

Automated Monolithics
Batching Plant

Monolithic refractories have increased in market share of
the total refractories industry over the last two decades and will
continue to do so. Monolithic refractories have a countless of
industrial applications throughout the steel, cement, non-ferrous
metallurgical, waste disposal and petrochemical industries.
Thus, Monolithic Refractories is having very good scope in the
market.
Refractory Product is a combination of various types of
minerals. This various minerals should be precisely select
& weighed for prepare a batch. Nowadays many refractory
industries using manual method of weighing & batching system.
There are so many demerits of this manual system as below:
• Error in weighing due to human intervention,
• Dusting due to Open work area
• Non consistency of batch
• Non consistency of out put
• Excess manpower require
Neptune has developed the best solution to avoid above
issues, we have developed complete automatic batching plant
for refractory industries. Generally raw material for refractory

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REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3

product is available in big bag. So we are providing big bag % utilization will be done
unloading station to unload big bag and charge the material in of the complete plant
Storage silo. equipment.

From big bag unloading station we are introducing one gentle Typically counter
conveying technology that is special design “Z” type bucket current inclined intensive
elevator. Benefit of this equipment is mixer, double cone
blender and twin shaft
• Gentle handling
paddle mixers are being
• 100% discharge used in the industry.
• Dust free environment Bagging machines
• No contamination and stitching stations
are integrated with this
• Avoid of multiple handling
facility for getting final
This elevator will discharge the material in selective bunker products in either Jumbo
based on PLC program. Each raw material will be handling by bags or small bags within 25-50 kg weight.
automatic conveying system and stored in auto selected storage
Benefits of the system
silo.
• Minimum manpower require
Weighing & batching process is totally automated based on
• Dust free environment
PLC program. Based on selection of recipe on PLC, material will
be weighed and collected as per require raw material with require • Proper utilization of System
quantity for batch. • No Ideal time

Ready batch will be transfer to dry mixer machine for • No human error
homogeneous mixing and bagging and meanwhile the other batch • Consistency of Output
is going to be ready for further process, so by this automation 100 • Low maintenance

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REFRACTORY SPECIAL VOL. 65 NO. 3

Tap Hole Clay Manufacturing

Plant
Neptune is a leading engineering company
focused to work on refractory segment for more
than 20 years in India. Since we are focused to
refractory segment, we have gathered fairly good
knowledge, possess good experience and achieved
good credentials with leading players in Indian
refractory segment.

All leading refractory companies in India like

VESUVIUS, TRL KROSAKI, IFGL, SAINT
GOBAIN, CALDERYS, IMERYS, CUMI,
MORGAN, DALMIA, ORIENT ABBRASIVES,
SARVESH, SUD-CHEMIE are in our customer
list and we have been executed various orders with
them successfully,

We have successfully handled Tap Hole Clay

manufacturing projects and have gathered required
knowledge and experience about its manufacturing This project has various manufacturing process and facilities required
process as well gray area too of this project. which are defined in below table,

SN Manufacturing process Facilities required to perform that process

1. Preparation of dry batch of various refractory raw materials Automatic dry batch preparation facility including following items,
in different sized grains and powders • storage silos as per required raw material components in the mix to be prepared
• silo charging system by EOT crane or special Z elevators
• suitable silo dischargers considering raw material grains/powders size with controlled discharge
mechanism
• Batch preparation with mobile weighing cart or fix weighing hoppers with collection/weighing box
conveyor method
• Ready Batch transfer system to dry mixer unit
• Suitable dry mixer unit e.g. Inclined counter current intensive mixer (CCIM) for homogenous dry
mixing
• Mechanized Bagging unit for bagging of mixed batch in Jumbo bags/small bags
2. Preparation of mix with Tar for tar based Tap hole clay products Special heavy duty Muller mixer for efficient wet mixing & mulling or Inclined CCIM
3. Preparation of mix with Resin for Resin based Tap hole clay products Special heavy duty Muller mixer for efficient wet mixing & mulling or Inclined CCIM
4. Preparation of mix with Tar & Resin for Tar with Resin based Special heavy duty Muller mixer for efficient wet mixing & mulling or Inclined CCIM
Tap hole clay products
5. Heating of Tar &/or Resin Tar &/or Resin heating system to keep it heated to required temperature as per process requirement
6. Mix transfer for Intermediate storage & controlled discharge Rotary feeder / Slicer unit for Intermediate storage and controlled discharge to forming unit
7. Tap hole clay forming by Extrusion technology Continuous Extruder and on line extruded blank cutting system as per the final size requirement
8. Tap hole clay forming by pressing technology Hydraulic press system with on line pressed blank cutting system as per the final size requirement with
cut mass pick and place unit & cut mass transfer system
9. Packing of the final product in polythene bag Automatic form fill seal machine for packing of the final product in polythene bag or manual process
10. Shrink wrapping of packed product in polythene bag On line shrink wrapping machine
11. Pelleting the cut mass product Semi-automatic palletizing system for storage and dispatch
12. Pellet wrapping by polythene film Semi-automatic pellet wrapping machine

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 58 | AUGUST 2021

NATIONAL TRENDS
The facility was inaugurated on July 19, 2021, by D. B.
Sundara Ramam, Vice President (Raw Materials), Tata Steel,
in the presence of Pervez Akhtar, Chief Project Raw Materials,
Mukesh Ranjan, Chief Project OMQ, Siddharth Shah, Chief
Human Resource Business Process (Raw Materials) & Chief
Diversity Officer, senior officials of the company and union office
bearers.
Water Treatment Plant
Talking about sustainable mining practices, Shri Ramam said,
“It is our yet another successful endeavour towards environmental
sustainability. Reduce, reuse, recycle of water can help us meet
the water requirement in and around our areas of operation. At
Tata Steel, sustainable development and growth has always been
an integral part of our business philosophy. All environmental and
social considerations are taken into account for any project that is
taken up by Tata Steel.”
Built from cutting-edge technology, the Water Treatment
Plant will treat 400 KLD of water from Suna river and address
the drinking water need of around 2,800 people residing in
Bichakundi, including the employees of the company and people
from the community in and around Bichakundi.
The water treatment plant will produce potable water that
meets all quality parameters set by the World Health Organization
(WHO).
With sustainability as a cornerstone of its operations, Tata
Steel’s FAMD has taken several initiatives in and around the
region, including Rainwater Harvesting Ponds, plantation through
Miyawaki method and Seed Balls, Mango Orchards, Rooftop
Rainwater Harvesting, and development of an Eco-Restoration
Park comprising of a 130 KV Solar Power Plant and a Polyhouse
nursery.
With more such new endeavours in the pipeline, FAMD is
continuing its quest to remain the industry leader in sustainability
by setting new benchmarks for a better tomorrow.
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
JSW Steel records the highest-
ever PAT of Rs. 5,900 Crores in
Q1 FY’22
Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel has
reported the highest-ever consolidated
quarterly Profit after Tax (including
subsidiaries, joint ventures and
associates) of Rs. 5,900 Crores during
the first quarter (Q1) of FY’22 as against a net loss of Rs. 582
Crores in the corresponding period last year (CPLY).
During the quarter under review, the company achieved its
highest-ever consolidated revenue from operations of Rs. 28,902
Crores, a growth of 145% as compared to Rs. 11,782 Crores in
Q1 FY’21. Consolidated operating EBITDA for the June quarter
also rise to its highest-ever level at Rs. 10,274 Crores, with an
EBITDA margin of 35.5%.
The company’s consolidated net gearing (net debt to equity)
stood at 1.04x at the end of the June quarter as against 1.14x at the
end of Q4 FY’21. Net debt to EBITDA was at 1.89x in Q1 FY’22
as against 2.61x at the end of Q4 FY’21.
During the quarter, the joint ventures operations, mainly
Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. and JSW Ispat Special Products
Ltd., performed satisfactorily. The share of profit from JVs for the
quarter was recorded at Rs. 323 Crores.
On a standalone basis, JSW Steel’s crude steel production for
the June quarter rose by 39% YoY to 4.10 Million Tonnes (MT)
while sales of saleable steel jumped by 29% YoY to 3.61 MT. Its
domestic automotive sales increased by ~5x YoY, while domestic
automotive production grew by ~3x YoY.
The company recorded the highest-ever standalone quarterly
revenue of Rs. 25,959 Crores in Q1 FY’22, a growth of 6% QoQ
(quarter-on-quarter) led by higher steel prices and improved
product and market mix. It also registered the highest-ever
quarterly operating EBITDA of Rs. 9,491 Crores, an increase of
18% QoQ with an EBITDA margin of 36.6%, primarily due to
increased realisations from export and domestic markets and an
enriched product mix, which was partially offset by an increase in
raw material prices, especially iron ore and coal. JSW Steel posted
the highest-ever quarterly Profit after Tax of Rs. 5,258 Crores in
Q1 FY’22, up by 31% QoQ.
During the second wave of COVID, the company ramped up
various support and relief measures to help the communities and
the nation. It has also been at the forefront in supplying Liquid
Medical Oxygen (LMO), with over 65,000 Tonnes of oxygen
supplied from the steelmaking facilities during Q1 FY’22.
NATIONAL TRENDS
JSPL receives a revised offer
of Rs. 7,401 Crores for Jindal
Power
Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel &
Power Limited (JSPL) has received
a revised and improved binding
offer of Rs. 7,401 Crores from
the promoter entity Worldone Private Limited for divesting its
subsidiary company Jindal Power Limited (JPL).
“In effect, the revised offer is now simple and straightforward
where there will be no continuing financial linkage between JSPL
and JPL post the divestment,” the company said.
Earlier in April, JSPL had accepted a binding offer from
Worldone Private Limited to divest the 96.42% stake it holds in
JPL.
Under the revised offer, Worldone will buy out all equity
shares and redeemable preference shares of JPL held by JSPL for
a total consideration of approximately Rs. 7,401 Crores, of which
Rs. 3,015 Crores will be payable by cash, and the remaining Rs.
4,386 Crores will be payable by way of assumption and takeover
of liabilities and obligations of JSPL in relation to inter-corporate
deposits and the capital advances extended by JPL to JSPL.
JSPL has also decided to launch an additional transparent
competitive bidding process open to the world at large to realise
the highest possible value for JPL stake sale, using the revised
offer of Rs. 7,401 Crores as the base offer.
Source: PTI
JSL’s Q1 PAT stands at
Rs. 306 Crores
Jindal Stainless Limited’s (JSL)
consolidated profit after tax (PAT)
stood at Rs. 306 Crores during the
first quarter (Q1) of FY’22 as against a net loss of Rs. 124 Crores
in the year-ago period.
During the quarter under analysis, the company’s consolidated
net revenue grew by 193% YoY to Rs. 4,033 Crores. JSL’s
consolidated EBITDA for the June quarter was recorded at Rs. 601
Crores, an increase of 839% YoY. Due to better preparedness in
terms of safe practices, improved cost management, supply chain
optimisation, production alignment with demand and enhanced
automation, JSL was able to curtail the impact of the second
COVID wave. As a result, financial performance improved even
on a sequential quarter basis as well.
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
During Q1 FY’22, the
company’s standalone
PAT was at Rs. 271 Crores
(vs a loss of Rs. 87 Crores
in Q1 FY’21). JSL’s
standalone revenue for
the June quarter increased
by 204% YoY to Rs.
3,841 Crores. Standalone
EBITDA stood at Rs. 580
Crores in Q1 FY’22, up by
Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director, JSL 647% YoY. The company
further accelerated its
deleveraging strategy during the quarter and reduced its long-
term external debt (excluding group company JSHL’s debt) by
Rs. 210 Crores. The interest cost decreased by 38% to Rs. 81
Crores in Q1 FY’22 over the same period last year.
The sales volume rose by 168% YoY to 237,852 Tonnes in Q1
FY’22.
The Board of Directors approved a brownfield expansion
plan for JSL to leverage the ready availability of world-class
infrastructure in Jajpur, such as land, roads, railways, utilities, etc.
The estimated Capex of this brownfield expansion is Rs. 2,150
Crores, which is less than one-third of the greenfield Capex cost
for the corresponding enhancement.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Abhyuday Jindal,
Managing Director, JSL, said, “Our plan for the near future is
unleashed today; we are going to double our melt capacity in the
next 18 months. The expansion will strengthen our ability to serve
domestic and international customers across different market
segments. With the post-pandemic recovery, rigorous internal
efficiencies, ongoing merger, and slated expansion plans, JSL is
geared to maximise the value for all its stakeholders.”
Tata Steel Mining and JSL sign
an MoU for mining of common
boundary in Sukinda
Tata Steel Mining Limited (TSML) and Jindal Stainless
Limited (JSL) have signed an MoU to jointly unearth the
chrome ore locked up in the boundary between their mines
located in Sukinda of Jajpur district, Odisha. This would help the
conservation of chromite ore which otherwise would have been
left unmined forever.
The unique partnership sets an example for Sustainable
Chrome Ore Mining in an innovative manner. This is a win-win-
win partnership for the state of Odisha, TSML and JSL.
NATIONAL TRENDS
The MoU was signed at Bhubaneswar by M. C. Thomas,
Managing Director, TSML, and Shashibhushan Upadhyay, Vice
President (Projects), JSL. Ratan Jindal, Chairman, JSL, Abhyuday
Jindal, Managing Director, JSL and other senior officials from
both companies had joined virtually for this special occasion.
Left to Right: M. C. Thomas, Managing Director, TSML and Shashibhushan
Upadhyay, VP (Projects), JSL at the MoU signing
Speaking on the occasion, M. C. Thomas said, “I am very happy
to commence this project today with JSL, who has been a valued
customer and partner. We are committed to sustainable mining,
and such a joint initiative will set examples for organisations,
especially in the mining industry to collaborate in the larger
interest of mineral conservation and sustainability. These will
redefine the way mining is done through technology, mineral
conservation and safety.”
Commenting on the occasion, Abhyuday Jindal said, “This
is a very unique collaboration where JSL and TSML will derive
maximum value from a joint mining effort. This effort will
enhance the availability of ore in the region without any adverse
environmental impact, as it’s an already explored area. The move
will also benefit the local economy. As responsible institutions,
we are committed to sustainable mining activity in the region.”
JSHL reports Rs. 359 Crores of
PAT in Q1 FY’22
Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Limited (JSHL) has posted a
consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 359 Crores during the
first quarter (Q1) of FY’22 as against a loss of Rs. 94 Crores in
the year-ago period.
During the quarter under review, the company’s consolidated
revenue rose by 226% YoY to Rs. 2,776 Crores (vs Rs. 852 Crores
in Q1 FY’21). JSHL’s consolidated EBITDA for the June quarter
was at Rs. 412 Crores, an increase of 864% YoY.
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
Aerial view of JSHL
On a standalone basis, the company’s PAT and EBITDA stood
at Rs. 240 Crores and Rs. 382 Crores, respectively, in Q1 FY’22.
Standalone revenue for the June quarter grew by 238% YoY to
Rs. 2,512 Crores. Focus on deleveraging continued, and JSHL
successfully reduced its net debt by Rs. 708 Crores since March
2020, which stood at Rs. 1,292 Crores as of June 30, 2021. The
interest cost fell by 56% to Rs. 30 Crores in Q1 FY’22 over the
corresponding period last year (CPLY).
JSHL’s sales volume stood at 151,121 Tonnes in Q1 FY’22, up
by 219% over the CPLY.
Overall demand was impacted during Q1 FY’22 with
intermittent disruptions caused due to the second wave of
COVID, but domestic demand in segments like railways, process
industry and elevators remained stable. Demand from consumer-
facing segments like auto and pipe & tube recovered by the end
of the quarter. JSHL’s leadership in the value-added segment, the
government’s focus on developing sustainable infrastructure with
low life-cycle cost material, and improving economic outlook
are likely to further boost stainless steel demand in the coming
quarters.
JSHL’s Board of Directors approved a brownfield expansion
plan for the company to leverage its leadership position in
specialty products, thereby enhancing its product mix and
augmenting market reach. The expansion of Specialty Products
Division (SPD), with an estimated CapEx of Rs. 450 Crores, is
planned to be rolled out in two phases.
The capacity of precision strip will go from the current capacity
of 22,000 Tonnes per annum (TPA) to 60,000 TPA in two phases.
It would strengthen the company’s presence in segments such as
auto, process industry and oil & petrochemicals, and also cater to
niche segments like aerospace and electric vehicles.
Blade steel capacity will go from the current capacity of 14,000
TPA to 24,000 TPA in two phases.
Commenting on the company’s performance, Abhyuday
Jindal, Managing Director, JSHL, said, “The expansion of SPD
will further consolidate JSHL’s dominance in the specialty
stainless steel segment. The expansion will enable us to foray into
new and upcoming high-end segments like EVs and aerospace.
This transformation, along with an intensified approach towards
digital manufacturing, would accelerate JSHL’s growth.”
NATIONAL TRENDS VOL. 65 NO. 3

ESL Steel launches electric

vehicles for its employees
ESL Steel Limited, a Vedanta Group
Company, has introduced electronic vehicles
(EVs) for employees commuting in Bokaro
under its ESL Ride Green initiative with the
purpose of reducing carbon footprint, fossil fuel consumption and
greenhouse gas emissions.
This initiative will help in reducing 430 Tonnes of carbon
emission yearly due to the fuel efficiency of EVs as compared to
the conventional vehicles that run on petrol or diesel. Additionally,
these vehicles produce less or no noise, which makes them ideal
in reducing noise pollution.

Vedanta Electric Vehicle

Furthermore, EVs are extremely safe as there are hardly any

inflammable substances used in their production. They are also
designed in a manner that makes them less prone to accidents or
collisions.

Speaking on the occasion, N. L. Vhatte, CEO, ESL Steel

Limited, said, “ESL is the first business in the Vedanta Group to
launch electric vehicles in the plant premises for its employees.
By converting our cars into EVs, we are now closer to our goal
of becoming India’s leading sustainable steel player, and we are
working hard to achieve it as soon as possible. With the initiative,
we also aim to inspire other corporates to follow the sustainability
route, which is crucial in keeping India green and clean.”

To build a sustainable future for India, the company has been

working collaboratively on various electric and hybrid vehicle
solutions. Earlier, ESL had launched 40 e-cycles and 10 e-scooters
in association with EVeez, an electric vehicle subscription
platform. The EVs are currently being used within the plant
premises by ESL employees.

During the next phase, ESL plans to convert buses and move
closer to its aim of completely shifting to EVs by 2025.

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GLOBAL TRENDS
EVRAZ North America breaks
ground for the new rail mill in
Pueblo
EVRAZ North America broke
ground and started site preparations
for the new, high-tech rail mill in
Pueblo, Colorado, USA.
The new mill will replace the current line and is expected to roll
the first rails in late 2022 or early 2023. With a production capacity
of 670,000 short Tonnes, rail hardness up to 425 BHN and lengths
up to 100 m, it will be the most modern rail-rolling mill in North
America.
The rail mill will feature flexible rolling processes both in the
break-down and in the ultra-flexible reversing mills, achieving
very low roll consumption and precise geometrical tolerances
thanks to an advanced Danieli Automation control system. The
high-tech Danieli mill will produce up to 88 kg/m rails for heavy-
haul and high-speed railways.
Having completed the design of the technological equipment,
Danieli is now manufacturing the machinery for the new mill,
namely reheating furnace, rolling mill and roller straightening
line.
The tandem mill will be pre-assembled and tested at specialised
Danieli workshops in Italy before shipping to the US.
Skip Herald, CEO, EVRAZ North America, said, “The rail mill
will be powered by the 1,800 solar farms being constructed at the
steel mill which is due to be complete by the end of the year the
most green steel facility in North America and maybe the world.”
Lance Fritz, Union Pacific Railroad’s President and CEO, One
of the EVRAZ rail customers, described the value of the longer
rails to be rolled by the new mill. “There will be 80% fewer welds,
which is a meaningful improvement to safety and reliability,” said
Fritz.
Indian steelmakers contract
Danieli Service India for slab
casters upgrades
Leading Indian flat-product producers ArcelorMittal Nippon
Steel India and SAIL Bhilai have chosen Danieli Service India for
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
capital spares and upgrades of their slab casters.
The supply for the four projects awarded by ArcelorMittal
Nippon Steel India over the last few months consists of reverse
engineering performed on its slab caster located at Hazira plant
for one mould, three segments and five bare segments, and the
manufacturing of 190 Tonnes of new equipment.
After many years of operation of its Danieli slab caster, SAIL
Bhilai contracted Danieli Service India to supply one new top-zone
and one new bender unit as the existing components have reached
the end of their service life.
The ordered parts, which weigh a total of 40 Tonnes, will be
subject to engineering upgrades that will reduce maintenance costs
and extend lifetime. This order followed the one for four, upgraded
Danieli segments for the same caster.
The ordered segments have been delivered and put in operation
with assistance from the Danieli Service team at SAIL Bhilai.
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India will also be assisted by the
Danieli Service team during the installation, which is planned for
September 2021.
Located in Sri City in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the Danieli
India design and manufacturing center is serving metal producers
in the Indian subcontinent. Danieli India is a premium partner in the
“Atmanirbhar Bharat” project driven by the Indian government to
make a “self-reliant India”.
Arvedi orders quality
management systems from
Danieli Automation
Arvedi has contracted Danieli Automation for quality
management systems for two cold mill complexes in Italy.
The first one will be implemented at the Cremona plant and
will manage a push-pull pickling line, a continuous pickling line,
a tandem cold mill and three hot-dip galvanising lines, including
a quality lab. The other will serve the technological lines of the
Servola plant, namely a tandem cold mill, two hot-dip galvanising
lines, a colour coating line and a quality lab.
GLOBAL TRENDS
The quality-related process parameters will be collected from
various sources (Level 2, PLC, MES, ASIS, manual inspection) and
will be used to build a product digital passport.
Quality and SPC rules will be implemented in the system in
order to manage product grading and improve process control. A
web portal will be used for monitoring, analytics and dashboarding.
Q3-Premium contributes to reducing the product non-
conformance ratio and increases the production yield, with higher
process repeatability.
It supports a fast response to customer claims by identifying the
root cause for defects, and it is a driver for knowledge sharing and
continuous improvement.
The new project will be completed in phases between the end of
2021 and the end of 2022.
Danieli wins a rolling mill
modernisation contract from
AESW Abinsk
Russian steelmaker AESW has placed an order with Danieli for
the supply of two ESS energy-saving cantilever stands.
To be installed at the Abinsk production site in the Krasnodar
region, Russia, the Danieli ESS stands will replace housingless
stands 15 and 16 as part of a rolling mill for rebar supplied by
another plantmaker.
The new cantilever stands will ensure the reduction of the
product-size changing time for rebars ranging from 8-25 mm in
diameter, increase the rolling tolerances and maximise the mill
utilisation factor.
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AESW already operates Danieli cantilever stands in rolling mill
#2 (the second Danieli wirerod mill supplied by Danieli to AESW),
and this will lead to spare parts optimisation. Abinsk is continuously
working with Danieli on new product and production strategies.
The commissioning is planned for mid-2022.
Yildiz Demir Çelik cold mill
complex achieves benchmark
performance and productivity
Yildiz Demir Çelik cold mill complex in Kocaeli, Turkey, is
now producing 1.5-Mtpy of high-quality, cold-rolled, tempered and
coated strip in coils for demanding applications.
The close cooperation between Danieli and Yildiz project teams
resulted in a remarkable tandem mill start-up, delivering zero waste
from day one, followed by a daily increase in strip throughput and
quality.
After two years of operation, sustained performance and
productivity are confirmed.
The heart of the plant is the Turboflo® pickling line coupled
with a five-stand, 6-hi Optimised Shaped Roll Technology (OSRT)
tandem cold-mill, which is followed by a continuous galvanising
line with vertical furnace arrangement, a stand-alone temper mill as
well as a batch annealing facility.
Pickling process efficiency is achieved by Danieli-patented
Turboflo® technology, which includes advanced hydraulic sealing
with minimal pump pressure, special tank channel design, high
turbulence on both strip surfaces, adjustable turbulence level for
better process control, strip tension level optimisation along the line,
and no need for catenary control. It can process light-gauge strips at
up to 450-mpm speeds, meaning a 15-second dwell time for light-
gauge, low-carbon steel hot band. The Turboflo® line achieves a 5 to
10% decrease in acid and energy consumption compared to pump-
generated turbulence and a 10-15% production increase compared
to a non-turbulent bath.
Rolling mill flatness performance is ensured by OSRT with a
specially contoured intermediate roll barrel, in combination with
an axial intermediate roll-shifting device. This allows maximum
influence on the roll bite by creating a roll crown while reducing the
necessary diameter differences on the intermediate rolls to increase
roll lifetime.
GLOBAL TRENDS
Aided by online flatness control based on an exit-side shapemeter
roll, more than 97% of all strip flatness deviations in steady- and
transient-state rolling conditions were either equal or below 6
I-units.
The OSRT concept showed excellent stability and performance
during thin-gauge material production: ultra-low HAGC hysteresis
with a 45% faster response time and low-friction bending blocks
ensure precise strip thickness control, with thickness tolerances
exceeding guarantee values. Yield savings around the weld seam
are ensured by continuous rolling; L1 and L2 controls reduce the
out-of-gauge length (OOGL) before and after the seam.
Economical high-speed, hot-dip, thin-coating galvanising
is achieved by Danieli Kohler X-Jet wiping system. It allows
extremely accurate final zinc coating-thickness control, down to 35
g/m2 per side at 170 mpm.
Thanks to all of these features and more, plant availability for
the Yildiz cold mill complex is close to 99.9%.
Çolakoğlu grants FAC to
Primetals Technologies for
the first part of the slab caster
modernisation
Primetals Technologies has
received the final acceptance certificate
(FAC) from the Turkish steelmaker
Colakoglu Metalurji A.S. (Çolakoğlu)
for the first part of the modernisation of the two-strand slab caster
at the Dilovası plant near Istanbul.
The modernisation order covered the Level 1 and Level 2
systems, the Mold Expert system and the segment controller. The
modernisation order was performed during the extension of the
line, replacing Çolakoğlu’s existing systems with state-of-the-art
technology.
The Primetals Technologies team during the commissioning on site at Dilovası
near Istanbul
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
Primetals Technologies carried out the commissioning both
locally and by means of remote support. The modernisation of
the existing systems has improved product quality and enabled
the production of additional steel grades. Furthermore, extending
the strands increased casting speed and, therefore, raised the
production rate.
The systems were successfully revamped during a nine-day
shutdown of the line. Project execution greatly benefited from the
presence of employees from Primetals Technologies Austria and
Poland on site as well as from the support of Primetals Technologies
experts at the location in Linz in Austria, who, due to the current
situation, were connected via the Internet using collaboration tools.
The Çolakoğlu plant, one of the world’s largest steelworks,
was supplied by Primetals Technologies and has been in operation
for several years now. This most recent modernisation project
represents a further milestone in the successful business relations
between Çolakoğlu and Primetals Technologies.
The commissioning of the second part of the order is scheduled
for summer 2021.
Primetals Technologies
to extend JSL’s converter
meltshop
Indian steelmaker Jindal Stainless Ltd. (JSL) has selected
Primetals Technologies to extend its meltshop in Jajpur, Odisha,
with a new production line.
The project will more than double JSL’s production capacity
at the Jajpur production site to approximately 2.2 Million Metric
Tonnes per year.
Primetals Technologies will supply the 150-Tonne AOD plant
with a top blowing lance, an exchangeable converter with Vaicon
Quick suspension, a tilting drive with a damper system and a gas
mixing station.
Torch cutting at a Primetals Technologies stainless steel caster
Primetals Technologies’ Vaicon Damper leads to a more stable
AOD production with reduced vibrations and extended tilting
drive service life. The material handling system will be adapted.
GLOBAL TRENDS
The basic automation system, as well as the level 2 process
optimisation, is also included. In 2019, Primetals Technologies
had installed level 2 automation system for the existing AOD #1.
The ladle furnace features a water-cooled roof and a well-
proven Melt Expert electrode control system. The scope of supply
also includes the high-current system and the current conducting
arms.
The single-strand continuous slab caster is designed to produce
slabs in a width range of 850 to 1,680 mm at thicknesses of 160
to 220 mm. The metallurgical length amounts to 25.65 m. It will
process ferritic and austenitic stainless 300 and stainless 400 series
steels as well as Duplex stainless grades.
The caster is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art
technology, including LevCon mold level control, DynaFlex mold
oscillation, Mold Expert breakout prevention and DynaPhase
phase transformation modelling for maximum possible slab
quality.
The start-up is expected by the end of 2022.
Primetals Technologies bags a
follow-up order from Kaptan
Primetals Technologies has been awarded a contract by Kaptan
Demir Çelik (Kaptan Iron & Steel), part of the Kaptan Group, for
the supply of an upstream mill at its Marmara Ereğlisi, Turkey
production site.
The mill will prepare the round feedstocks (intermediate sizes)
to be further rolled and finished in the wire rod outlet. It will have
a yearly capacity of 650,000 Metric Tonnes and process high-
value products such as carbon, SBQ and austenitic stainless steel
grades, catering to the engineering and automotive industries in
both domestic and export markets.
The upstream mill will have a maximum rolling rate of 130
Tonnes per hour and will process billets with square dimensions of
130, 160 and 200 mm and a length of 12 meters. The diameters of
the prepared feedstocks will range from approximately 17 mm to
33 mm, as required by the roll pass design of the wire rod outlet.
The layout, equipment and process of the new upstream mill will
be optimised and compatible with an additional bar outlet to be
added in the future.
The main scope of Primetals Technologies’ mechanical supply
includes the weighing, charging and discharging systems for
billets; a high-pressure water descaler; 20 Red Ring Series 5 rolling
stands with scaled sizes and grouped in roughing, intermediate,
pre-finishing and finishing trains. The last eight rolling stands will
be served by quick-change devices. Five hot shears for cropping
and emergency will also be included, as well as all the other
auxiliary components.
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
Rolling train with Red Ring Series 5 by Primetals Technologies
The electrical supply of Primetals Technologies includes the
main and auxiliary drives and motors, a new L1 automation
system and HMI with the interface to the existing L2 automation,
central and local operator stations. The project scope is rounded
off by operating parts, guide equipment, offline devices for
stand preparation, media systems, engineering services for other
components, advisory services to erection and commissioning and
personnel training services.
The hot commissioning of the complete installation is expected
in mid-2022.
Primetals Technologies
receives FAC from Guilin
Pinggang for an EAF Quantum
electric arc furnace and a ladle
furnace
Chinese steel producer Guilin Pinggang Iron and Steel Co.,
Ltd. (Guilin Pinggang) has issued the final acceptance certificate
(FAC) for an EAF Quantum electric arc furnace with a tapping
weight of 120 Metric Tonnes and a 120-Metric Tonne twin ladle
furnace supplied by Primetals Technologies.
The furnaces were set up in a new production facility in Pingle
near Guilin in Guangxi Province, which is intended to serve the
growing market for rebars. The EAF Quantum is designed to
handle scrap steel of varying composition and quality. Due to a
high automation level of the Quantum concept, the power-off time
could be reduced by approximately half to a conventional EAF.
All this reduces the operation costs and the CO2 emissions besides
the increase of productivity.
Primetals Technologies has supplied the complete mechanical
and electrical process equipment for the new EAF Quantum
electric arc furnace and the twin ladle furnace. The balance of
plant auxiliary equipment and services has been provided by a
local design institute.
GLOBAL TRENDS VOL. 65 NO. 3

EAF Quantum with doghouse for the highest environmental standards at

Guilin Pinggang, China

The EAF Quantum developed by Primetals Technologies

combines proven elements of shaft furnace technology with an
innovative scrap charging process, an efficient preheating system,
a new tilting concept for the lower shell and an optimised tapping
system. This achieves very short tap-to-tap times.
The electric energy consumption is considerably less than
that of a conventional electric arc furnace. Together with the is connected to a pressure vessel machine, which is feeding the
lower consumption of electrodes and oxygen, this gives an
manipulator and placed approximately 40 m away.
overall advantage in the specific conversion cost of around 20%.
In comparison to conventional electric arc furnaces, total CO2 The refractory gunning material is supplied in BIG BAGs
emissions can also be reduced by up to 30% per Metric Tonne of that are filled into the pressure vessel via a filling hopper. Via a
crude steel. radio remote control, the operator moves the lance to the desired
location, starts and stops the pressure vessel machine and controls
VELCO supplies a new gunning the gunning water flow.

manipulator for Lucchini
Industries Steel Plant
Lucchini Industries Steel Plant
in Lovere, Italy, is using a new
gunning manipulator at their electric
arc furnace. It was supplied
and installed by VELCO,
Germany, and their Italian
partner Sidertrading.
The gunning manipulator
PNEUTOP is parking
close to the furnace in a
special structure. For the
gunning repair, the gunning
manipulator is picked up
by the overhead crane and
lowered from the top into
the furnace. The PNEUTOP
Using the gunning manipulator, the repair is quicker and the
operational safety is improved.
Tenova starts up two new
walking beam furnaces at
Ternium Pesqueria
Tenova has successfully started up
two 400 t/h walking beam furnaces
(WBFs) at the new Ternium hot strip
mill facility in Pesqueria, Mexico.
The advanced features of the two state-of-the-art technology
WBFs provide reduced emissions and energy savings. The
furnaces are designed to heat steel slabs (up to 39 t) at 1,250°C,
with a specific consumption of 1.16 MJ/Kg, while keeping NOx
emissions lower than 60 ppm. This emissions level is well below
the required limit, like no other solutions available on the market.
The furnaces features include the novel SmartBurner Monitoring
System (SBMS), which enables the monitoring and optimising of
the burner’s performance, operation and maintenance. The SBMS

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GLOBAL TRENDS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Tenova launches its hydrogen-

ready burner for heat
treatment furnaces
Tenova has developed the first burners for heat treatment
furnaces using up to 100% hydrogen while keeping NOx emissions
largely below the strictest limits.

The company continues its efforts towards carbon neutrality

with an important achievement resulting in a unique portfolio of
hydrogen-ready technologies. After the recent launch of the multi-
megawatt TSX SmartBurner family for reheating furnaces fueled
with a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen (up to 100%), the
company is now ready to bring onto the market a self-recuperative
burner for heat treatment furnaces.

Tenova Walking Beam Furnace at Ternium Pesqueria, Mexico

is a network of embedded sensors connected to the Tenova

Digital Infrastructure, through secure connection protocols and
intrinsic system reliability. The collected data is post-processed
locally on an edge computing unit as well as remotely on the
Tenova Cloud. By constantly monitoring the status of the
burner, the SBMS offers breakthrough approaches to inspection,
maintenance and tuning, as well as reducing safety risks related
to on-site operations.

Paulo Lopez, Pesqueria Plant Director at Ternium, said, “The

Ternium Industrial Center started its first phase in 2013 focused
on downstream products as cold rolled and galvanised for the
industrial market. Now, we have started up the main production
line of the 2nd phase, a new hot rolling mill with a capacity of 4.4
Million Tonnes. The two new WBFs are part of the plant’s new
lines and will produce coils to be used in the automotive market
in the USMCA area, granting Ternium an increased access in
this sector.”
Tenova SmartBurners
Nicola Cavero, Senior Vice President, Tenova Italimpianti,
The new 200-kilowatt TRKSX (Tenova Self-ReKuperative
stated, “This new Tenova equipment joins the previous walking
beam furnaces built for Ternium at its plants in San Nicolas, Flameless) SmartBurner was successfully tested with a variable
Argentina and in Monterrey, Mexico, confirming the fruitful fuel mixture of natural gas and hydrogen to potentially eliminate
collaboration between the two companies of the Techint Group CO2 emissions during the combustion process. The system works
for this type of application. This represents an important new in flame and flameless mode with the aim to keep nitrogen dioxide
reference for Tenova in the reheating furnaces market.” emissions well below the strictest future limits.

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GLOBAL TRENDS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Davide Astesiano, R&D Manager at Tenova Italimpianti, gathers all information in one database and optimises work orders
stated, “TRKSX SmartBurners preheat the combustion air at and priorities.”
high temperature directly into the burner body through the heat-
The unprecedented interactivity offered to customers during
exchanger. This makes it possible to reduce fuel consumption
the event immediately led to new orders for steel and tube
significantly, making this technology extremely efficient
manufacturers. Moreover, new features on production monitoring
(approximately 78%). Moreover, it allows maintaining a minimum
raised during the interaction with customers have been taken into
level of NOx emissions, releasing less than 80 mg/Nm3 @ 3% of
account to develop new modules.
oxygen even with 100% hydrogen.”
OTOMES modules gather and provide information about
The TRKSX SmartBurner was designed in consideration of
the machines setups and performances indicators’ feedbacks by
the decarbonisation goals of the steel industry, and will be first
making available a wide range of reports, all easily customisable.
installed in a heat treatment furnace for pipes at the productive site
All the data is integrated into one database with a user-friendly
of Tenaris (in Dalmine, Italy), a leading global manufacturer and
interface that enables successful production management. Better
supplier of steel pipe products and related services for the world’s
yet, OTOMES can even be connected from a smartphone to
energy industry and other industrial applications and part of the
monitor production from the entry of raw materials all the way to
Techint Group, to which Tenova also belongs.
the final product shipment.
Nicola Cavero, Senior Vice President at Tenova Italimpianti,
said, “Our target is to enlarge Tenova’s burner portfolio to offer
our customers the best solution for the decarbonisation of their
plants, and we plan to adapt all our burners to be hydrogen-ready.
They are also integrated with sensors to make possible dynamic
control of waste gases flow, generating precious data for machine
learning applications.” OTOMES Open House

Fives holds an exclusive open

house week event to showcase
OTOMES
Fives held an exclusive open house week
event to showcase OTOMES, a highly flexible
and modular manufacturing execution system
for steel and tube manufacturers, in mid-July
2021 in Sovizzo, Northern Italy.

The showroom was equipped with a complete OTOMES

system, composed of hardware stations and software modules,
which allowed customers to experience direct benefits from a fully
integrated manufacturing execution system. The open house was
held in a hybrid format: in-person for local steel manufacturers
and online for customers from Europe, as well as North and South
America.

During the latest modules presentation, Francesco Cazzola,

Automation Sales Engineer at Fives OTO S.p.A. – Systems
Division, a subsidiary of Fives Group, said, “Thanks to its
modularity and flexibility, OTOMES allows easy interfacing with
third parties systems and can be tailored to any customer’s needs.
It provides a real-time direct connection from ERP to machinery, OTOMES module

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GLOBAL TRENDS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Fives has been constantly updating and improving its

OTOMES products, consolidating customer’s feedbacks
and in-house know-how in automation on steel and tube
manufacturing: slitters, tube mills, cut-offs, skin-passes, etc.
Wherever the OTOMES system is implemented, it provides a
great variety of advantages:
• Increased productivity and stock reduction
• Real-time data analyses
• Hidden cost disclosure
• Delivery time predictability
Currently, OTOMES systems have been implemented in
over 400 workshop centres all around the world.

Global crude steel production

in June 2021
Production of crude steel by 64 countries reporting to the
World Steel Association (worldsteel) was estimated at 167.9
Million Tonnes (MT) in June 2021, registering a growth of
11.6% compared to June 2020.
In Asia, China’s crude steel production totaled to 93.9 MT
in June 2021, up by 1.5% over June 2020. India produced 9.4
MT of crude steel in June 2021, growing by 21.4% over June
2020. Japan came up with 8.1 MT of crude steel production in
June 2021, an increase of 44.4% over June 2020. South Korea’s
crude steel production stood at 6.0 MT in June 2021, increasing
by 17.3% over June 2020.

In the European Union, Germany produced 3.4 MT of crude

steel in June 2021, up by 38.2% over June 2020.
In North America, production of crude steel by the United
States in June 2021 amounted to 7.1 MT, registering a growth
of 44.4% over June 2020.
In the C.I.S., Russia is estimated to have produced 6.4 MT of
crude steel in June 2021, up by 11.4% over June 2020.
In other Europe, Turkey’s crude steel production was at 3.4
MT in June 2021, growing by 17.9% over June 2020.
In South America, Brazil produced 3.1 MT of crude steel
during the month under review, increasing by 45.2% over June
2020.
In the Middle East, Iran is estimated to have produced 2.5
MT of crude steel in June 2021, going up by 1.9% over the
year-ago period.
Source: worldsteel

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FOCUS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Govind Beriwal, Director

Shyam Steel

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FOCUS VOL. 65 NO. 3

“Today, not just in Bengal, we

are a premium TMT brand across
India”

When supplying TMT for national infrastructure projects was the forte of two or three of India’s largest manufacturers, Shyam
Steel broke the glass ceiling. When Bengal’s individual home building consumers started to understand the superiority of TMT
over TOR steel, Shyam Steel started bringing them excellent quality TMT at a reasonable price. When COVID posed a challenge
to economic growth and numerous companies had to struggle to stay afloat, Shyam Steel grew from strength to strength.
Govind Beriwal, Director, Shyam Steel, speaks to Iron & Steel Review about the company’s vision, principles, diversification
strategies and future plans.

When your ancestor started his business, India had just
begun to build itself. There were so many easier avenues to
choose from. So why did he choose steel?
At the dawn of India’s independence, my father, Shriram Beriwal,
had dreamt of an Atmanirbhar Bharat. He wished India to be self-
reliant in its development by developing its infrastructure with
its own steel running through its veins. He
wanted the best quality steel in the world to
be made right here in India. So, in 1953, he “Today, our TMT
established a small factory in Howrah.
As a result, we were able to offer steel that would meet the
stringent quality standard of mega infrastructure projects. We
provide steel to every major contractor like L&T, Gammon, HCC,
etc., and also every major PSU such as Railways, BHEL, etc.
We also wanted every home in India to be powered by this high-
quality steel. Hence, we set up a strong distribution network.
Today, not just in Bengal, we are a premium
TMT brand across India. We are available in
almost every state through our network of
thousands of dealers.

From that small factory to today’s steel

bars have that
goliath. How did it happen? perfect balance
Soon after my father started the business, between strength
his brother Shyam Sunder Beriwal joined
the company as well. Together, they took the and flexibility”
company from strength to strength. I joined
in 1983. Along with my brothers, we took the
legacy of our fathers further ahead.
• Never compromise on quality: I’ll give an example. You’ll
We always strived towards making the best-quality steel and,
hence, made strong investments on quality. We set up one of
Eastern India’s first private sector integrated steel plants in
Durgapur. We invested in cutting edge technologies like Electric
Arc furnaces. We put into place a strong Total Quality Management
(TQM) approach and got all our labs NABL certified.
What would you say is the reason why you
have succeeded so well where countless
others have failed?
Since its inception, Shyam Steel has been
guided by four principles set down by my
father. These are like the pillars that hold the
foundation of Shyam Steel. They are:
find most TMT brands focus on the strength of steel. But
research has shown that along with strength, it’s the flexibility
of a TMT bar that gives the home the ability to withstand
nature’s forces. But strength and flexibility are inversely
proportional; if strength increases, flexibility reduces and vice
versa. Hence, it is very difficult to get the right combination

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 95 | AUGUST 2021

FOCUS
between these two properties. But we
took up the challenge. And, today, our “We always
TMT bars have that perfect balance
strived towards
between strength and flexibility
making the best-
• Create your own market: Build trust
among your channel partners and end
quality steel”
customers. Talk to them honestly, and
they will respond. To communicate the
property of our TMT to our consumers, we convey through
our brand ambassadors Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma; we
show that home, like a relationship, needs to be both flexible
and strong to be long-lasting
• Taking great care of our real assets –
our employees: Shyam Steel is nothing “We are available
but a collective representation of its
in almost every
employees. And, like we grew from a
small factory, we believe in giving each state through
employee the ground to grow. There are our network of
umpteen examples here of employees
thousands of
who’ve joined as junior-most executives
and, today, are our senior general dealers”
managers, vice presidents and even
directors
• Give back to the society as much as possible: CSR has
always been a part of our existence – decades before the
government announced its mandatory CSR policy. And, our
CSR budget also far exceeds any stipulated amount
Giving back to society as a core principle
Shyam Steel was founded with a firm belief
that a business is ultimately about helping “We are on a
people. To that end, Shyam Steel actively runs mission to put
a wide variety of welfare programmes across
education, healthcare, women’s hygiene, etc.
a store in every
Some of the notable recent initiatives are: district across
• The Shyam Steel Foundation provides India by 2025”
growth opportunities and support to all
sections of society, including orphans, senior citizens, the
differently abled, etc.
• Shyam Steel runs mobile healthcare units in remote villages
for free doctor consultants and medicines
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• Running charitable schools with free
tuition and books
• Partnering with NGOs to improve
women’s hygiene through mass distribution
of sanitary napkins and running educational
workshops
• We were heavily involved in the
green movement in Durgapur-Asansol belt
• We donated oxygen concentrators and other relief material in
several states at the height of the pandemic
• Providing relief after every major natural disaster such as
Yaas, Amphan, etc., across Eastern India
Your company is growing at such a rapid
pace – is it just from one product?
Apart from our flagship product, FlexiStrong
TMT rebar, we also manufacture various
ancillary products like Steel Round Head
Nails, Binding Wire, TMT Rings or Stirrup,
Composite Bricks, etc. We also make a range
of structural steel products used to make
residential gates and grills. We shall soon be
adding a few more products to our portfolio.
We offer various customer-centric services like Online sales, Free
expert advice and Free home delivery of our product, which give
complete peace of mind to the consumer.
What is on the horizon for Shyam Steel? What’s the vision
moving ahead?
Our TMT is used in mega projects across
India for its high quality. Our vision is to keep
on bringing the same TMT to the retail home
builder at affordable costs. And, we are on a
mission to put a store in every district across
India by 2025, so that it is easily available
to every home builder across the length and
breadth of India. To do so, we are also looking
at adding significant capacity – both through
greenfield and brownfield investment. We
are also expanding our product portfolio. Furthermore, we are
diversifying into new segments. Today, we are present in a
variety of industries such as Infrastructure development, Power
transmission, Agro-processing, IT services, etc.
COMPANY NEWS
BAOWU Zhanjiang is Operating
the Second High-Performance
Hot Strip Mill from SMS group
For a wide range of quality flat products with an annual capacity of 4.5 million tons
In spring 2021, the new high-performance hot strip mill
(HSM) from Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. in China
(BAOWU) successfully started hot commissioning. SMS group
has thus already supplied the second state-of-the-art HSM for the
Zhanjiang location.
HSM No. 1 (HSM 2250) went into operation in 2015. Baosteel
Zhanjiang operates this plant very successfully and has increased
the annual production compared to the originally dimensioned
capacity from 5.5 million tons to well over 6 million tons.
In addition to the performance of the 2250 hot strip mill, the
customer Baosteel Zhanjiang was impressed by other advantages
of working with SMS group. The supplier impressed with an
integrated plant concept that optimized the layout of the new plant
so that both hot strip mills, according to the plans of Baosteel, can
be operated from a central main pulpit.
The reversing roughing stand rolls the slab to transfer bar thickness. The
attached edger ensures tight width tolerances and thus a high yield
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Through the modularization and the equalization of
components, Baosteel Zhanjiang benefits in the procurement and
stocking of spare parts. The existing service contract for hot strip
mill 2250 will be expanded to include hot strip mill 1780 and will
lead to synergy effects.
In addition to the mechanical equipment, part of the scope of
supply is a digitization package. It consists of the X-Pact® Process
Condition Analyser (PCA) and the Genius CM® Condition
Monitoring. With these applications, the plant condition can
be continuously monitored and kept up to date with foresight.
Thereby it is ensured in the long term that the plant produces at
the highest level at any time.
The transfer bar is wound into a coil in the mandrelless coilbox. It serves
as a material and heat store and effectively counteracts temperature and
heat losses in the pre-strip. This improves the rolling conditions in the
finishing mill
The main units of the roughing mill are the primary descaler,
slab sizing press, two-high reversing roughing stand, four-high
reversing roughing stand – each comes with an attached edger,
thermal insulation hoods in front of and behind the four-high
stand and a mandrelless coilbox. The slab sizing press allows
the slab to be reduced in width by up to 350 millimeters. This
in combination with the two high-performance roughing stands
COMPANY NEWS
allows a high degree of flexibility in production planning and
when distributing the passes between the roughing stands.
The transfer bar is wound into a coil in the mandrelless
coilbox. The use of the coilbox leads to an almost constant inlet
temperature of the transfer bar in the finishing mill, the usual
increase in rolling force at the strip tail ends is almost completely
avoided, so there are optimal conditions for rolling high-strength
grades and demanding multi-phase steels.
In the entry section of the finishing mill there is a crop shear
and secondary descaler. The finishing mill is provided with seven
roll stands, including a side guide in front of the first finishing
stand. In order to achieve the tightest thickness tolerances, all
stands are equipped with highly dynamic hydraulic adjustment
systems. The precise setting of the strip profile, contour and
flatness is applied by using the proven CVC® plus technology
(Continuously Variable Crown) in combination with integrated
work roll bending.
The rolling stands of the finishing mill are equipped with the latest
generation of technological actuators. This ensures efficient rolling
operations and fulfills the most demanding customer requirements with
regard to strip quality
After rolling to the desired final thickness in the finishing mill,
the latest generation of laminar cooling ensures that the required
cooling temperatures and cooling rates and thus the mechanical
properties for all products are set within tight tolerances. The
controlled and flow-monitored higher water quantity in the exit
area of the cooling line enables the enhanced production of multi-
phase steels.
Two downcoilers wind the finished hot strip accurately with
straight edges and high winding quality.
The new HSM enables Baosteel Zhanjiang to produce a wide
range of products providing a total annual capacity of 4.5 million
tons of hot strip with strip widths of up to 1,630 millimeters.
The final thicknesses are between 1.20 and 12.70 millimeters.
In addition to low-alloy carbon steels, high-strength grades
for applications in automobile and container construction are
essential parts of the intended product range, as are multiphase
steels, non-grain-oriented silicon steels and steels for applications
in ship and bridge construction.
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The laminar cooling effectively cools the finished rolled hot strip down to
the coiling temperature. The mechanical strip properties are precisely set
within tight tolerances
One of the two hot strip downcoilers in the new high-performance hot strip
mill at BAOWU Zhanjiang. The first hot strip with a perfect winding result
was coiled here on May 31, 2021
Hot commissioning of the plant will be completed by the end
of 2021.
Baosteel Zhangjiang has a total capacity of more than 10
million tons of hot strip at this location. Strip with a maximum
width of 2,100 millimeters is produced on hot strip mill No. 1
(HSM 2250), while strip widths of up to 1,630 millimeters are
rolled on hot strip mill No. 2 (HSM 1780).
Mr. Zhu Weilin, Hot Rolling Plant Director at Baosteel
Zhanjiang, summarizes the experience with SMS group: “The
HSM 2250 from SMS group was and still is a great success.
The plant worked reliably right from the start. Thanks to the
very robust equipment, we were able to continuously increase
production by full compliance to our high quality standards. For
this reason, we are very satisfied about SMS group being again
selected as the supplier for the HSM 1780.
Thanks to the standardized spare parts and service management
for both hot strip mills, we can generate considerable synergies
and savings in the long term.
Last but not least, I would like to emphasize that the teams
from Baosteel and SMS group did an excellent job during this
difficult time under the restrictions of the pandemic and provided
another example of the long-term, trusting cooperation between
our companies.”
COMPANY NEWS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Tata Metaliks Limited

Posts PAT of Rs. 94.72
Crores in Q1 FY’22

tatametaliks

Tata Metaliks Limited (TML), a subsidiary of Tata Steel, has reported a Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 94.72 Crores during the
first quarter (Q1) of FY’22 as against a loss of Rs. 12.36 Crores posted in the year-ago period.
During the quarter under review, the company has posted revenue from operations of Rs. 603 Crores and Profit Before Tax
(PBT) of Rs. 134.83 Crores. EBIDTA increased to Rs. 156.99 Crores in Q1 FY’22 from Rs. 11.25 Crores in Q1 FY’21.
As the second wave of COVID hit the country, fresh lockdowns were declared in several states in the April-June quarter.
Restrictions were imposed in various parts of the country, including in West Bengal, where intra-state transportation was
stopped. The Govt. of West Bengal also came out with an order capping workforce to 50% for many of the industries. This
affected business adversely in Q1, especially TML’s production and sales volume of DI pipes.

Highlights of the business performance
• In Q1 FY’22, TML has achieved a growth in PAT of ~26%
over Q4 FY’21 despite lower production of the DI pipe plant,
which mainly got affected due to the order of the government
on workforce restrictions
• Demand for Pig Iron (PI) got impacted adversely in Q1 due
to COVID second wave as major foundry clusters operated
at 30-40% capacity. However, TML achieved the highest-
ever quarterly PI deliveries of 89 KT on the back of a jump
in exports. Record sales volumes coupled with strong price
realisation, along with stable blast furnace operations, raw
materials cost optimisation and higher coal injection have
helped the company achieve its best-ever quarterly profits

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COMPANY NEWS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Performance highlights • Despite a significant increase in the price of major raw

Figures in Rs. Crores unless specified materials, TML achieved an operating margin of ~26% in Q1
FY’21 Q1 FY’22 Q4 FY’21 Q1 FY’21 FY’22 compared to ~22% in Q4 FY’21, owing to strong PI
287 Pig iron sales (KT) 89 80 32 volumes and much better PI prices. The expansion of the coke
194 DI pipe sales (KT) 50 75 27 oven through BOOT basis and the new Captive Power Plant
397.36 EBIDTA 156.99 145.87 11.25 (CPP 4), both of which got commissioned in Q4 FY’21, also
67.13 Depreciation 16.15 15.97 19.62 helped to control coke costs and power costs, respectively. This
23.60 Finance costs 6.01 5.97 8.10 benefit in power cost would continue in the coming months
306.63 PBT – from continuing operations 134.83 123.93 (16.47) though the full benefits would be available once the new DI
219.81 PAT 94.72 74.99 (12.36) pipe project gets commissioned later this financial year
73.55 Earnings per Share – Basic (Rs.) 29.99 23.75 (4.40) Sandeep Kumar, Managing Director of Tata Metaliks, said,
69.61 Earnings per Share – Diluted (Rs.) 29.99 23.75 (4.40) “The company has delivered strong results primarily due to
• However, the DI pipe business took a beating with operations record sales and booming prices of pig iron. DI pipe business
impacted due to the government restrictions on workforce got impacted mainly due to COVID-induced restrictions by state
deployment up to a maximum of 50%, which resulted in governments. However, demand for DI pipes continues to remain
lower production and dispatches. Deliveries in Q1 FY’22 robust on the back of significantly increased allocation in this
were lower by ~34% compared to Q4 FY’21 year’s Union Budget for water infrastructure. Strong demand
coupled with record increases in raw material prices has started
• The June quarter saw a steep rise in domestic iron ore prices
having an effect on DIP prices which have already seen a rise of
by ~45-50% compared to Q4 FY’21, mainly due to continued
25-30% compared to the last year.”
supply constraints in Odisha from merchant mines. Domestic
coke prices in Eastern India, however, dropped by ~8% “The DI pipe expansion project being built on Industry 4.0
q-o-q, as major buyers in Eastern India preferred coal to coke concept with high levels of automation and digitalisation has also
conversion to take advantage of lower coal cost. Domestic got impacted owing to the COVID pandemic, and the 1st phase
coke costs started to rise again from mid-June in line with the is now expected to be commissioned in Q4 FY’22,” added Shri
increasing price of coal in the international market Kumar.

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MARKET & PRODUCT VOL. 65 NO. 3

ABB’s Artificial Intelligence

Modelling for Data Centre
Energy Optimisation

ABB, the world’s leading technology provider, has signed up to a pilot study with ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC),
in Singapore, to explore how artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and advanced analytics can optimise energy use
and reduce a facility’s carbon footprint.

Singapore-headquartered ST Telemedia Global Data Centres bids to become net carbon-neutral by 2030. ABB is conducting
(STT GDC), one of the fastest growing global data centre operators the pilot in two phases, beginning with initial data exploration,
with more than 130 facilities across the globe, is leveraging the modelling and validation, studying historical data to establish how
digital transformation expertise of technology leader ABB as it digital solutions would impact existing operations and energy use.

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MARKET & PRODUCT
Once proven, it will be followed by artificial intelligence (AI)
control logic testing in a live data centre environment. STT GDC
aims to achieve at least 10% in energy savings from its cooling
systems, which is the largest consumption of electrical power in a
data centre after IT equipment.
Daniel Pointon, Group Chief Technology Officer of ST
Telemedia Global Data Centres says, “Our group’s AI roadmap will
take a big leap forward with this pilot program. The vast amounts
of data that can be captured and harnessed in a live data centre
environment make for a strong base for AI applications, which
can also be applied to other business processes including capacity
planning, risk mitigation and predictive maintenance.” He further
said that this one, along with other initiatives around alternative
energy sources, water efficiency, construction technology and
innovative cooling solutions, are being carried out by STT GDC’s
research and development team based in Singapore.
The ABB team is currently developing AI-based optimisation
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
models for the entire data center cooling plant, including the
upstream chiller and distribution systems. The AI project is also
unlocking new opportunities for efficiency improvement at a
granular level within the data centre. STT GDC will be able to
use AI-generated insights, leveraging cutting-edge ABB Ability™
Genix for industrial analytics and AI, to track and analyse data
generated by monitoring systems in the data centre, and better
facilitate dynamic cooling optimisation.
Commenting on this pilot study, Madhav Kalia, Global Head
of Data Centre Automation at ABB, says, “We look forward to
supporting the STT GDC team in their efforts to drive digitalisation
and energy efficiencies.” He further states, “At ABB, we have a
strong track record of supporting data centre operators with our
best-in-class technology solutions. We are committed to exploring
the synergies between our offerings with STT GDC as it embarks
on an ambitious plan.”
STEEL MARKET VOL. 65 NO. 3

Iron & Steel Summary

for June 2021
The important developments in the steel sector during the but marginally lower than Q1:FY’20 while consumption
first quarter of the current fiscal and month of June 2021 are as of Finished Steel in Q1:FY’22 remained higher than
follows: consumption during Q1 in both these years. Production and/
or consumption of Crude and Finished Steel was lower than
l An R&D collaborative project with private sector participation
that achieved during the preceding quarter i.e., Q4:FY’21.
on development of steel slag-based cost-effective eco-friendly
The trend in quarterly production and consumption of steel
fertilisers for sustainable agriculture and inclusive growth led
may be seen from the following graph:
by ICAR-IARI in association with Industrial partners namely
SAIL (20%), TATA Steel (20%) and JSW (20%) has been
approved with balance 40% funding by the Government
l The steel industry has supplied 3.25 Lakh Metric Tonnes
of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) to 17 States across the
country since 11th September 2020 of which 2.14 Lakh MT
was supplied during Q1:FY’22. In addition, the steel industry
has already established jumbo COVID facilities adding to
about 3400 oxygenated beds, using gaseous oxygen co-
located with their plants
l Minister of Steel dedicated a 100-bedded COVID care facility
in SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant to the service of the nation on l During the month of June 2021, production of Hot Metal, Crude
2nd June, 2021 which was expanded to 441 beds by month-end. Steel and Saleable Steel by SAIL stood at 1.382 MT, 1.303
In addition, SAIL’s 114 oxygenated beds at Jumbo COVID MT and 1.271 MT, respectively which is an improvement of
Care Centre at BSP Bhilai and MOIL’s 100 oxygenated beds 44%, 46% and 35% over their respective performance during
COVID Care facility in Mandla District, Madhya Pradesh were June’20 and an increase of 0.11%, 5.35% and 2.29% M-o-M.
also dedicated to the nation during the month The cumulative production performance during Q1:FY’22
for Hot Metal, Crude Steel and Saleable Steel stood at
l The production and consumption of steel during the first
4.13 MT, 3.77 MT, and 3.77 MT respectively which is an
quarter of the fiscal year 2021-22 (Q1:FY’22) registered
improvement of 54.4%, 52.4% and 65.5%, respectively over
significant improvement over their respective levels in
the performance during CPLY. Saleable Steel Sales during
Q1:FY’21 which saw a significant contraction due to
June’21 at 1.06 MT was lower by 17.2% over CPLY and 2.6%
COVID-19 lockdown with production of Crude Steel,
M-o-M. The cumulative sales performance during Q1:FY’22
Finished Steel and consumption of steel increasing by 60.6%,
stood at 3.34 MT which is a growth of 49.2% over CPLY
87.7% and 103.1%, respectively. However, production and
consumption of steel was comparable to the levels achieved l Iron ore production by NMDC Ltd. for the month of June
during Q1 of the pre-pandemic previous two years i.e., FY’20 2021 was 2.98 MT while sales of iron ore stood at 3.18 MT,
and FY’19 with production of Crude Steel and Finished Steel registering an increase of 18.4% and 28.1%, respectively over
during Q1:FY’22 being higher than that during Q1:FY’19, CPLY. While month-over-month (M-o-M) production of iron

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STEEL MARKET VOL. 65 NO. 3

ore increased by 6.6%, sale of iron ore decreased by 3.6%

during June 2021. The cumulative iron ore production at 8.89
MT and sale at 9.57 MT during Q1:FY’22 were 34.6% and
49.4% higher over CPLY, respectively
l During the month of June 2021, KIOCL produced 1.96-Lakh
Tonne Pellets and sold 2.08 Lakh Tonnes of Pellets which
were 18.3% and 31.3% lower than CPLY. As compared to
May’21, production and sales of Pellets declined by 13.7%
and 21.2%, respectively in June’21. During Q1:FY22, the
KIOCL Pellet production stood at 6.03 Lakh Tonnes while
sales were 6.31 Lakh Tonnes, recording an increase of 18%
and 11%, respectively over CPLY ii. Production of Crude Steel in June 2021 increased by
l Ministry of Steel held the meeting of Inter-Ministerial Steering 19.9% over the same month of the last year and by 0.5%
Committee (IMSC) on National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) over production in the previous month i.e., May 2021.
of Steel sector on 5th July 2021. It was informed that the iii. Production of Finished Steel in June 2021 was higher by
issue of Right of Way (RoW) for two National Infrastructure 25.8% over CPLY but it declined marginally by 0.2% on
Pipeline projects viz., Joda to Kalinganagar Slurry Pipeline in M-o-M basis.
Odisha by TATA Steel for 153 Km along NH-20 and Keonjhar
iv. Consumption of Finished Steel in June 2021 registered
to Paradip Slurry Pipeline in Odisha by ESSAR MINMET
an increase of 28.4% over June 2020 but it declined by
Ltd. along NH-20, NH-53 and NH-16 has been resolved with
0.8% on M-o-M basis.
permission for laying the pipeline having been issued by
NHAI during June 2021 v. The consumption and net export taken together were
higher than production during June 2021 which resulted
l In the nine ongoing projects, having cost of Rs. 150 Crores or
in absorption of inventories with the steel producing
above, uploaded on the OCMS portal of MoSPI, cumulative
companies. Accordingly, the closing stock of Finished
expenditure of Rs. 23,243 Crores has been incurred against
Steel at the end of June 2021 was 8.07 MT which is 3.7%
the total cost of Rs. 31,567 Crores lower than that at the end of the previous month and
l The CPSEs under the Ministry, of Steel achieved a CAPEX 39.3% lower than the same month of the previous year.
of Rs. 1247.50 Crores in Q1:FY’22. The progress of CAPEX l Export-import scenario:
was reviewed by the Minister of Steel and subsequently by
the Finance Minister wherein Steel CPSEs were directed to The month-wise export and import data indicate that
frontload the CAPEX spending to Q2 and Q3 from Q4 of the progressive unlocking of the economy and improving
current fiscal economic activities led to an improved domestic demand,
resulting in decline/moderation in export from June 2020
l The status of pending payments to MSMEs by CPSEs of the and higher import from August 2020. However, during the
Steel Ministry is being monitored on weekly basis to ensure last two months of the fiscal 2020-21, there was an uptrend
that the same is credited timely and well within the 45 days’ in export while import remained range bound. In the current
time limit for such payments. Payment of Rs. 407.48 Crores fiscal, export and import both declined in April. But in the
was made by steel PSEs to MSMEs during June 2021 as subsequent months viz., May’21 and June’21, export of
against Rs. 372.42 Crores during May 2021 Finished Steel increased significantly while imports remained
l Production and consumption scenario: range bound due partly to the rising international prices. The
trend in export and import of Finished Steel may be seen from
i. The comparative picture of production and consumption the following graph:
of steel during the month of June over the last four years
is depicted in the following graph. It is seen that the
production of Crude and Finished Steel and consumption
of Finished Steel during the month of June 2021 is much
higher than that of the last year, due to COVID-19 induced
lockdown. When compared to the same month of earlier/
preceding years, production of Crude Steel and Finished
Steel during June 2021 is higher than that in June 2018
but lower than June 2019. However, consumption of
Finished Steel in June 2021 is lower than that in the same
month of both these years.

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STEEL MARKET VOL. 65 NO. 3

i. Export of Finished Steel in Q1:FY2021-22 increased by to June 2020 while it declined for Japan, Sweden and
8.9% over CPLY and 43.9% over the preceding quarter Germany over this period as may be seen from the
i.e., Q4:FY2020-21 while import declined by 4.5% and following graph:
25.0%, respectively over the same period.
ii. During June 2021, export declined by 11.8% over CPLY,
but was higher by 10.6% M-o-M. Import in June 2021
increased by 50.9% over CPLY and 2.2% M-o-M,
respectively.
iii. India was net exporter of Finished Steel during June
2021 recording a net trade surplus of 0.97 MT.
iv. Share of Italy, Belgium, UAE, Turkey, Hong Kong and
Nepal in total steel export from India was higher in June
2021 as compared to June 2020. However, share of
Vietnam in India’s total steel export declined over the
same period as may be seen from the following graph:

l Price scenario:
i. During the month of June 2021, prices of iron ore lumps
as well as fines remained unchanged at Rs. 7650/Tonne
and Rs. 6560/Tonne, respectively, which is same as their
respective prices in May 2021.
ii. NMDC achieved production of 29.8 Lakh Tonnes and
sales of 31.8 Lakh Tonnes of iron ore in June 2021. The
production and sale of iron ore were 18.4% and 28.1%
higher than production during CPLY, respectively.
SAIL booked 5.52 Lakh Tonnes of iron ore for sale and
dispatched 4.42 Lakh Tonnes during the month. The
cumulative booked quantity by SAIL during the quarter
v. Share of Korea, China, Indonesia and Vietnam increased was 11.24 Lakh Tonnes and despatches stood at 8.74
in total steel import of India in June 2021 as compared Lakh Tonnes.

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STEEL MARKET VOL. 65 NO. 3

iii. The retail prices (Mumbai prices) of Rebar, increased by

0.86% while it declined by 0.68% and 0.37% for HRC
and CRC, respectively during June 2021.
iv. The trend in iron ore prices may be seen from the graph
below:

l BSE Sensex showed an upward trend during June 2021 l The details of procurement of goods and services through
registering an increase of 0.8% while BSE Metal Index GeM Portal by Ministry of Steel and Steel PSUs are as
declined by 1.7% during the month indicating some moderation follows:
in sentiments with respect to metal sector during the month
l The global production of Crude Steel increased by 16.5% in June 2021 April-June, 2020-21
May 2021 over May 2020 with almost all major producing Organisation No. of Orders Value of Orders No. of Orders Value of Orders
(Rs. in Lakhs) (Rs. in Lakhs)
countries reporting improved production over CPLY. The
Ministry of Steel 56 18.6 100 24.87
major contribution to the enhanced global production in
May’21 over May’20 came from China, India, USA, Japan, Steel CPSEs 639 48897.33 1472 84393.00
United States, Germany, Brazil and Turkey with most other
producing countries also chipping in. The major producing
countries (with production of 1 Million Tonne for the month)
registering higher than global average of 16.5% growth in
production in May 2021 over CPLY include India, Japan,
USA, Germany, Turkey, Brazil, Italy, Vietnam, Mexico, Spain,
France and Canada with none recording a decline during
May 2021 over CPLY. As for the share of major producing
countries in the global production of Crude Steel, it is seen
that due to the uptick in production in other countries, share
of China and South Korea declined while that of India, Japan,
USA and Turkey improved during this period, the share of
other major producers remained stable as may be seen from
the following graph:

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STEEL TECHNOLOGY VOL. 65 NO. 3

Keywords: Transverse Edge Cracking, Zener Pinning Force, Continuous Casting Of Blooms, Surface Quality, Vanadium
Carbonitride Precipitation, Hot Ductility, Crack-Sensitive Steel Grades

Applicability of Zener Pinning

Force Concept to the Transverse
Surface Edge Crack Susceptibility of
Vanadium Micro-Alloyed Steels during
Continuous Casting of Blooms
Esra Erdem Hornauer1, Uwe Grafe1,Uwe Plociennik1, Wilfried Klos1, Markus Reifferscheid1, Mathias Lüttenberg2
1
SMS group GmbH, Germany, 2 ArcelorMittal Duisburg, Germany

Zero-defect strategy is one of the major customer demands today and early detection of defects can lead to a significant reduction
in cost by increasing the efficiency of the production and the surface quality of the cast product. Our research aims at developing
a new method for this challenging surface quality problem. In our prior research, a new approach “Zener Pinning Force” (ZPF)
has been suggested for the continuous casting process to characterise the transverse surface edge cracking susceptibility by means
of thermo-kinetic modelling of precipitation. With this aim in mind, the applicability of the new concept is tested on the casting
practice. From the simulations it can be concluded that values of the ZPF for vanadium carbonitride V(C,N)- precipitation at
austenite grain boundaries correlate with the reduction of area (RoA) values. The thermo-kinetic precipitation simulations of
ZPF resulting from V(C,N) particles are based on the temperature histories which were calculated via the thermal process model
X-Pact® Solid Control developed by SMS group. The surface defect inspection results from the rolled billets at ArcelorMittal
Duisburg for the three different micro-alloyed steel grades 20MnV6, 27MnSiVS6 and 38MnSiVS5, which are compared with the
thermo-kinetic simulation results of ZPF-values for V(C,N) precipitation. The results demonstrate that the ZPF approach can be
a promising way for the prediction of transverse surface edge cracking risk to develop countermeasures to achieve the best casting
conditions by the optimization of the continuous casting process operation.

Introduction The evaluation of steel´s hot cracking sensitivity is usually

The detrimental effect of transverse surface cracking during
continuous casting is mainly caused by the bending and/or
unbending operations where the temperature corresponds to the
second ductility trough [1]. The cracks formed due to this formation
mechanism is linked to material properties and operating stresses
and strains, and can degrade the quality of the rolled product on
the next stage process during the next stage of the production
process as well as on the final product.
carried out by using hot ductility curves, showing the reduction
of area (RoA) of fractured specimens from hot tensile testing as a
function of temperature [2]. The disadvantage of the hot ductility
curves is that it is only valid for one chemical composition and
only for the experimental cooling curve. Therefore, it is very
important to simulate the continuous casting conditions as closely
as possible in experimental devices such as Gleeble HDS-V40,
otherwise the hot ductility test can be misleading.

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STEEL TECHNOLOGY
As has been emphasized previously in the literature, the thermal
history and the stresses and strains developed during continuous
casting before the straightening operation play a major role in
controlling the ductility [3]. Below the upper temperature limit of
the second ductility trough in the temperature range of austenite,
the low ductility may be caused by grain boundary segregation of
impurity elements, grain boundary precipitation of carbonitrides
and grain boundary sliding. Grain boundary sliding followed by
cracking is seen in austenite rather than ferrite, because austenite
shows only limited recovery. This gives rise to high flow stresses
and work hardening rates leading to intergranular failure by the
nucleation of grain boundary cracks [3].
The formation of fine precipitates at the austenite grain
boundaries can play a role in widening a ductility trough into
the single phase austenite region by pinning the boundaries and
extension of cracks formed by grain boundary sliding, as well
as encouraging void formation [1,4]. The precipitates that are
formed on the austenite grain boundaries have a great influence
in reducing the hot ductility by causing intergranular failure in
the higher temperature range. Large volume fractions of fine
precipitates are likely to increase strength and refine the grain
size, but they also reduce the ductility of the steel owing to a
more effective pinning action of grain boundaries, allowing more
cracks to link up [2,5,6,7].
ArcelorMittal Duisburg has been operating a bloom caster
with an increasing demand on the product quality in terms of both
surface quality and mechanical properties. During the production
of micro-alloyed steels for forging operations with higher contents
of vanadium, nitrogen and sulphur, transverse edge cracks were
detected on the surface of the blooms. The compositions of the
investigated steels are given in Table 1.
Table 1 – Chemical Composition (wt.-%) of the investigated steel grades
Steel grade C Si Mn P S Al N Ti
20MnVS6 0.222 0.427 1.692 0.015 0.026 0.014 0.022 0.002 0.184 0.003
27MnSiVS6 0.307 0.613 1.512 0.017 0.035 0.026 0.015 0.024 0.093 0.003
38MnSiVS6 0.379 0.612 1.372 0.014 0.052 0.019 0.016 0.003 0.099 0.003
The section size of the bloom is 320x 320 mm2. The surface
quality detection of the rolled billet is performed after leaving
the billet rolling mill using an in-line surface inspection system.
During rolling cracks are becoming sliver defects. Surface
inspection of the rolled billets exhibited slivers, which are mainly
located on the edges of the wide face and along the narrow face.
Metallographic investigations revealed that the cracks originated
during continuous casting of the bloom. An example for cracks
after grinding of the as-cast bloom is shown in Figure 1. The
transverse edge cracks are located mainly on the loose side and
partially extend into the narrow face or wide face.
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
Fig.1 - Transverse cracks on the grinded as-cast bloom narrow face
In the context of a cooperation between ArcelorMittal Duisburg
and SMS group, a series of activities were conducted in the past to
increase the yield of the continuous bloom caster: measurements
at the casting plant, metallographic examinations, hot tensile
tests and simulations of the effect of different temperature control
strategies on the casting process and material behaviour [8].
Based on the findings, which provide insight into the cause-
and-effect of the surface defect problem, a new approach
“Zener Pinning Force” (ZPF) was introduced to characterise the
transverse surface edge cracking susceptibility which is caused
by V(C,N) precipitates by means of thermo-kinetic modelling
in a recent study. The new approach relates the pinning effect
of second phase particles on grain boundaries during continuous
casting of blooms to ductility values resulting from tensile tests
directly after melting and re-solidifying of the samples using a
Gleeble machine (HDS-V40). The results showed that values
of the ZPF for V(C,N) at austenite grain boundaries correlate
V Nb with the reduction of area (RoA) values: Higher ZPF values
have an adverse effect on the ductility of the material, meaning
that the reduction of area values decrease as the ZPF increases.
From the simulations it has been shown that an increase in ZPF
resulting from V(C,N) particles on grain boundaries can be used
as an indicator for ductility in the studied vanadium containing
micro-alloyed steel grades. Moreover, using the ZPF-values, it
is possible to predict the edge cracking risk on the surface of
the blooms for different process parameters of continuously cast
blooms [9].
The main purpose of this present work is to study the
applicability of the new ZPF concept on the casting practice.
This will be done firstly by summarizing some general results
from the hot ductility curves and secondly by illustrating the
simulations of ZPF resulting from V(C,N) particles on the basis
STEEL TECHNOLOGY VOL. 65 NO. 3

of a thermo-kinetic precipitation model MatCalc® [10]. Further, observed between 900 and 800 °C for steel 38MnSiVS5 but it
surface inspection results are compared to numerical predictions exhibits values at a higher level compared to the other investigated
using the ZPF concept. steel grades. It is therefore assumed to be less susceptible to
cracking during unbending.
Crack susceptibility in as-rolled materials
Precipitation simulations
The analysis of surface quality data by steel grade is listed
in Table 2. The data of the blooms refer to production period The application of thermo-kinetic precipitation simulation
2017 to 2019. As can be seen from the table, the steels are ranked involves some specific steps. Table 3 describes the basic steps in
according to their cracking susceptibility. The highest defect the simulation process.
rate was ranked as “1” and this steel grade was thus the most
Table 3 - Steps for conducting the thermo-kinetic precipitation simulation
crack susceptible. The results show that a high level of cracking Boundary Conditions for Precipitation Kinetics
is seen in steel grade 27MnSiVS6 by applying spray pattern 13. • Nominal composition
However, the same steel shows a pronounced improvement after • Simulation of Micro-segregation
optimisation applying spray pattern 14 and the defect rate is o Scheil-Gulliver Model
o Interdendritic solid composition at a fraction solid fs= 0.97
reduced from 4.9 % to 2.7 %.
• Nucleation sites for V(C,N)
Table 2 - Crack susceptibility ranking in as-rolled billet at ArcelorMittal Duisburg o Austenite grain boundary (gb)
Cases Steel grade Spray Furnace Defect Crack o Ferrite grain boundary (gb)
Pattern Charge Rate Susceptibility • Grain size
(SP) [t] %] Ranking o Austenite grain size: 100µm
1 27MnSiVS6 13 2110 4.9 1 o Ferrite grain size: 50 µm
2 27MnSiVS6 14 11847 2.7 4 • Surface temperature profile via thermal process model
3 20MnVS6 14 3434 4.4 2 o Edge surface temperature
o Center surface temperature
4 38MnSiVS6 13 7220 3.4 3

Hot ductility curves Due to micro-segregation, Scheil-Gulliver simulations were

In the recent part of our study [9], the measured temperature
hot ductility relationship of the examined steels are compared
with the ZPF values for V(C,N) precipitation on austenite grain
boundaries calculated with the thermo-kinetic model. The plots of
experimentally determined RoA values against test tem-peratures
for the investigated steels are shown in Figure 2, which indicate
that the steels exhibit a high cracking sensitivity due to the lack of
ductility when RoA-values decrease to a minimum.
performed for the as-cast material to estimate the interdendritic
compositions and the phase fractions of primary precipitates.
The interdendritic compositions taken as an input for the
precipitation simulations are evaluated at a fraction of solid of
0.97. It is important to note that the back diffusion of the fast
diffusing elements carbon and nitrogen as well as the peritectic
transformation are taken into account.

Fig.2 - Hot ductility curves of the examined steels

The results of the hot ductility tests show that there is a general
trend towards the loss in ductility influenced by combined effects
of such as MnS, V(C,N) and AlN formation. It is important to
highlight the fact that the steels 20MnV6 and 27MnSiVS6 show a
similar hot ductility behaviour with little variations in RoA values
especially in the temperature range of the unbending process.
Due to the falling temperature, a decrease in the RoA values is
The thermo-kinetic simulations were performed using
the MatCalc software, version 6.02 release 1.003 using the
thermodynamic database ME-Fe_1.2.tdb and kinetic database
ME-Fe1.1.ddb. In the simulations, the nucleation site for the
V(C,N) precipitate phase at austenite grain boundary (gb) was
defined according to the previous observations. The thermal
calculations were done using the SMS group process model

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STEEL TECHNOLOGY
X-Pact® Solid Control, which calculates the solidification process
of the strand and controls the various zones of the secondary
cooling system. The temperature-time-profiles are used as an
input for the kinetic simulations. Finally, the ZPF value resulting
from V(C,N)gb precipitation is calculated in order to predict the
cracking susceptibility. Figure 3 presents the temperature profiles
of both the center and the edge on the surface of the bloom in steel
grade 27MnSiVS6 based on the spray pattern 13.
The predicted volume fractions, number density, mean radius
and the resulting ZPF values for V(C,N)gb on austenite grain
boundaries for the examined steel grades were calculated as a
result of the simulation for four cases using the same calculation
procedure in the initial study . [9]
Fig.3 - Surface temperature profiles in steel grade 27MnSiVS6 for spray
pattern 13, case 1 (edge profile: green curve, center profile: blue curve)
Thermo-kinetic simulation results: Austenite
Thermo-kinetic simulations including the evaluation of
the ZPF values of V(C,N)gb precipitates are carried out for
temperature-time profiles for different positions on the surface of
the bloom (center and edge of top side).
For center surface temperature profiles the results of ZPF
values in three different steel grades are summarized in Figure 4.
We identify the precipitation start temperature at a particle volume
fraction of 10-7 at the grain boundaries, which has to be exceeded.
The observations show that the precipitation of V(C,N)gb particles
in all examined steel grades starts at similar temperatures.
Case 1, 27MnSiVS6, Spray Pattern 13:
At 1080°C, precipitation of V(C,N)gb starts in steel grade
27MnSiVS6 and at the same time the ZPF starts to increase
due to continuous nucleation of new fine precipitates.V(C,N)gb
precipitates at austenite grain boundaries reach a ZPF value of
5*10-3 MPa at the end of the soft reduction zone.
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Case 2, 27MnSiVS6, Spray Pattern 14:
In the case of spray pattern 14, the precipitation of V(C,N)gb in
steel grade 27MnSiVS6 starts earlier than in the first case and it
reaches a similar ZPF value of 5*10-3 MPa like in case 1.
Case 3, 20MnVS6, Spray Pattern 14:
In comparison to steel grade 27MnSiVS6 the precipitation of
V(C,N)gb is faster than in steel grade 20MnVS6. It is important to
note, that the calculated ZPF value is considerably 10 times lower
in comparison to case 1 and 2.
Case 4, 38MnSiVS6, Spray Pattern 13:
From the results, it is clear that the onset of precipitation of
V(C,N) occurs much later at a temperature of about 996°C during
unbending.
Fig.4 - Thermo-kinetic simulation results of V(C,N)gb precipitation on
austenite grain boundaries in three different steel grades based on cooling
patterns for the bloom center
The simulation results of ZPF for V(C,N)gb precipitation
at austenite grain boundaries did not show a clear correlation
between spray patterns 13 and 14 on the surface of bloom center
in steel grade 27MnSiVS6. On the other hand, according to the
resulting higher values of ZPF, surface cracks would be expected
to form on the surface of the bloom center. Casting practice
results confirm, that surface cracks have also been observed close
to the center of the blooms.
For edge surface temperature profiles the ZPF values in three
different steel grades are summarized in Figure 5.
Case 1, 27MnSiVS6, Spray Pattern 13:
For this case, the spray pattern dependence of the calculated
ZPF values in steel grade 27MnSiVS6 is clearly visible (red curve
in figure 5). It indicates that the ZPF of V(C,N)gb precipitation
at the edges shows a continuous increasing trend until the exit
of soft reduction zone. According to the simulation results, with
this cooling strategy the risk of transverse surface edge cracking
during continuous casting of bloom is increased.
Case 2, 27MnSiVS6, Spray Pattern 14:
According to the experience of the casting practice the best
results have been achieved for the prevention of edge cracks with
STEEL TECHNOLOGY
the modification of spray pattern in steel grade 27MnSiVS6. The
green curve in Figure 5 shows the evolution of the ZPF values of
V(C,N)gb precipitation for spray pattern 14. When comparing the
ZPF values, it can be seen that the ZPF value for spray pattern 14
decreases from 10-3 to 10-6. Thus, the crack susceptibility of this
spray pattern seems to be less critical compared to case 1.
Case 3, 20MnVS6, Spray Pattern 14:
Depending on the low ZPF values of about 10-6 this steel grade
should show lower edge cracking susceptibility.
Case 4, 38MnSiVS6, Spray Pattern 13:
The calculated ZPF values for V(C,N)gb precipitation exhibited
by steel grade 38MnSiVS6 is quite similar to those exhibited by
20MnVS6. The only difference is the onset of precipitation.
Fig.5 - Thermo-kinetic simulation results of V(C,N)gb precipitation in three
different steel grades based on cooling patterns for the bloom edge
Correlation between simulation results and crack
susceptibility ranking
The analysis of the surface quality inspection results in the
three different micro-alloyed steel grades 20MnVS6, 27MnSiVS6
and 38MnSiVS6 is compared with the thermo-kinetic simulation
results in terms of ZPF values for V(C,N)gb precipitation. The
knowledge gained with this new approach may allow to predict
the surface cracking susceptibility of a given steel grade during
continuous casting in order to set the best casting parameters
to reduce surface cracking. Table 4 shows the comparison of
surface defects detected on continuously cast blooms with model
predictions according to the ZPF concept. The ZPF values of
V(C,N)gb precipitation at the austenite grain boundaries in table
4 represent the most critical values in the interval between
unbending and soft reduction zone.
Table 4 - Comparison of measured crack susceptibility with model predictions at austenite grain boundaries
Cases Steel Spray Defect Rate
grade Pattern [%]
1 27MnSiVS6 13 4.9
3 20MnVS6 14 4.4
4 38MnSiVS6 13 3.4
2 27MnSiVS6 14 2.7
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The steel grades are ranked as a measure of their cracking
susceptibility. When comparing the calculated crack susceptibility
ranking of the surface center with the edge, it is clear that the
center has higher tendency to cracking than the edge based on
their ZPF values. On the other hand, observations do not confirm
the calculated results.
The results showed that the estimation of the crack susceptibility
of steel grade 27MnSiVS6 with the spray pattern 13 is the highest
regarding the ZPF values. This is also in good agreement with
the surface quality inspection results of the as-cast blooms. The
steel grade 27MnSiVS6 exhibited the lowest crack susceptibility
using spray pattern 14 regarding the inspection results. However,
the model predicts that in this steel grade with spray pattern 14,
the occurrence of transverse cracking can be reduced. This means
that the lowest measured crack susceptibility is not reproduced by
the calculated ZPF value. The evaluation of ZPF values suggest,
that the steel 38MnSiVS6 shows the lowest crack susceptibility
compared with other steel grades.
It is interesting to highlight, that the ZPF values differ by several
orders of magnitude, as they do for example in comparisons
between the center and the edges of the bloom. This may be
explained by the formation of V(C,N) and AlN precipitation and
is plotted in Figure 6 for steel grade 20MnVS6. The noticeable
higher volume fraction of V(C,N)gb and thus the higher ZPF
value in the center range of the, might be due to the delay of
AlNgb precipitation that consumes nitrogen which is available for
forming AlN. The onset of precipitation of AlNgb is shifted to the
unbending zone. It also shows that V(C,N)gb is responsible for
the transverse cracking and hence the low ductility. The situation
changes for the bloom edge. The precipitation of both V(C,N)gb
and AlNgb occurs fastest in the mould and at the same time the
share of the nitrogen consumption is attained with the full volume
fraction of phases in this case. It can be concluded that the lower
ZPF values at austenite grain boundaries at the edges is mainly
due to the lower volume fraction of precipitation phases.
Crack Susceptibility ZPF [MPa] ZPF [MPa] Crack Susceptibility
Ranking/ Bloom Center Bloom Edge Ranking/
measured Austenite gb Austenite gb calculated ZPF
1 2.4 10-3 6.7 10-4 1
2 5.0 10-4
1.2 10 -6
3
3 2.0 10-4 7.5 10-7 4
4 2.2 10-3
4.1 10 -6
2
STEEL TECHNOLOGY
Fig.6 - Comparison of the precipitated volume fractions of steel grade
20MnVS6 in the austenite phase for the center and edge temperature profiles
Furthermore, the evaluation of ZPF values revealed, that
the transverse surface edge cracking of steel grade 20MnVS6
yield a somewhat lower crack susceptibility ranking (3) than the
measured defect frequency (2).
From the standpoint of the prediction method, it appears
essential to investigate if there is any austenite-ferrite phase
transformation, which causes ferrite film formation along
austenite grain boundaries due to the roll contact. The presence
of ferrite films at the austenite grain boundaries intensifies the
cracking susceptibility and the ductility decreases even further
that is already well documented in the literature [1,11]
. Due to the
significant difference between strengths of ferrite and austenite,
all the plastic deformation concentrates within the ferrite films
leading the localized strains. Ductility improves when the fer-
rite volume fraction is substantial ~45% [12]
. Mintz [5]
evaluated
a critical value of 40 % RoA from his experimental data (valid
for a certain strain rate), which is necessary to prevent transverse
surface cracking during continuous casting.
Therefore, a study was started out to analyse the growth of
ferrite during continuous casting of the steel grade 20MnVS6.
The calculation of the ferrite formation can be done employing a
physical model such as DICTRA [13].
In Figure 7, the ferrite fraction is plotted as a function of
distance and temperature dependence for a casting speed of
0.80 m/min and spray pattern 14. The results demonstrate, that
ferrite growth started at the third driver roll and reached a volume
fraction of about 23% at the exit of soft reduction zone. The
results suggest, that transverse edge cracking of the steel grade
20MnVS6 might be increased in the interval between unbending
and soft reduction zone as a consequence of the critical ferrite
fraction.
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
Fig.7 - Volume fraction of ferrite in steel grade 20MnVS6 during continuous
casting at the bloom edge
During the measurement at the casting plant in the initial
study [8]
, the crack formation started at the fifth driver roll and
the number of these cracks increased further after leaving the
soft reduction zone. This observation can be explained by the
simulation result of ferrite growth.
Thermo-kinetic simulation results: Ferrite
Figure 8 shows the ZPF results derived from thermo-kinetic
simulations for V(C,N)gb precipitates at ferrite grain boundaries
in three different steel grades based on their edge surface
temperature profiles. The findings suggest, that the possible
reason why the edge cracking susceptibility of steel grade
27MnSiVS6 with spray pattern 13 tends to become highest when
the nucleation site is set to ferrite grain boundaries in the interval
between unbending and soft reduction zone could be identified.
The evaluation of ZPF values of the four cases shows, that the
steel 38MnSiVS6 has the lowest crack susceptibility.
Fig.8 -Thermo-kinetic simulation results of V(C,N)gb precipitation for the
four cases based on cooling patterns for the bloom edge
An evaluation of a crack susceptibility ranking that was made
to be correlated with the inspection results in Table 5 shows, it
is reasonable to conclude that the most surface cracking might
be associated with grain boundary ferrite film formation. At
the bloom center top surface there is no austenite-ferrite phase
transformation and thus the ZPF for ferrite_gb values will be
zero. Due to the phase transformation at the edges of the bloom
the ZPF for ferrite_gb values shows higher values than in the
case of austenite_gb.
STEEL TECHNOLOGY VOL. 65 NO. 3

Table 5 - Comparison of measured crack susceptibility with model predictions at ferrite grain boundaries

Cases Steel Spray Defect Rate ZPF [MPa] ZPF [MPa] Crack Susceptibility
grade Pattern [%] Bloom Center Bloom Edge Ranking/
Ferrite gb Ferrite gb calculated ZPF
1 27MnSiVS6 13 4.86 0 3.87 10-2 1
3 20MnVS6 14 4.39 0 2.23 10 -2
2
4 38MnSiVS6 13 3.40 0 1.71 10-3 4
2 27MnSiVS6 14 2.69 0 4.36 10 -3
3

Table 6 represents the comparison of the measured crack • When taking into account of the austenite-ferrite
susceptibility and the calculated results of ZPF austenite_gb for transformation in all cases, the edge of the bloom shows
the center and ZPF ferrite_gb for the edge. In all cases the edge always significantly higher ZPF ferrite_gb values than for
of the bloom shows always higher ZPF values than the center of ZPF austenite_gb.

the bloom. Only in case 2 the ZPF values of the center and the • When taking into account the austenite-ferrite transformation
edge of the bloom have the same order of magnitude. For the in the bloom edge, the ZPF ferrite_gb values show higher
cases 2 and 4 the ranking of the calculated ZPF, i.e. the crack values than the center of the bloom, which is consistent with
susceptibility is not comparable with the measured ranking. the observations.

Table 6 - Comparison of measured crack susceptibility with model predictions at ferrite and austenite grain boundaries
Cases Steel Spray Defect Rate Crack Susceptibility ZPF [MPa] ZPF [MPa] Crack Susceptibility
grade Pattern [%] Ranking/ Bloom Center Bloom Edge Ranking/
measured Austenite gb Ferrite gb calculated ZPF
1 27MnSiVS6 13 4.86 1 2.4 10-3 3.87 10-2 1
3 20MnVS6 14 4.39 2 5.0 10 -4
2.23 10 -2
2
4 38MnSiVS6 13 3.40 3 2.0 10-4 1.71 10-3 4
2 27MnSiVS6 14 2.69 4 2.2 10 -3
4.36 10 -3
3

Conclusion Future work will be focused on the simulation of the effect

In the present work the applicability of the proposed new
concept of the ZPF employing thermo-kinetic modelling to
characterise the transverse surface edge cracking susceptibility
caused by precipitates on the casting practice is investigated. The
steel grades are ranked as a measure of their cracking suscep-
tibility. The effect of the change of spray pattern on the transverse
surface cracking susceptibility of the steel grade 27MnSiVS6
could be seen clearly.
The results of the new concept are summarized as follows:
• When comparing different cooling strategies, the calculated
results correlate with the measured crack susceptibility
ranking.
of ferrite film formation and its influence on the ZPF value and
consequently on the cracking susceptibility.
References
1. Moon S-C., Dippenaar R.: The effect of austenite grain size on
hot ductility of steels. MS&T 2004 Conference Procedings;
675-84.
2. Vedani M., Dellasega D., Mannunccii A.: Characterisation
of Grain-boundary precipitates after hot ductility tests of
microalloyed steels. ISIJ International. 2009; 49 (3), 446-52.
3. Faramarz MH Zarandi. The Effect of temperature deformation
on the hot ductility of Nb-microalloyed steel [PhD Thesis].
Montreal: McGill University; 2004.

• The ZPF concept allows us to evaluate different cooling 4. Mintz B., Abushosha R.: The Hot Ductility of V, Nb/V and
strategies regarding crack susceptibility for steel grade Nb Containing Steels. Materials Sci-ence Forum. 1998; 284-
27MnSiVS6. 286, p. 461-68.

• At the austenite_gb, the centre of the bloom is more crack 5. Mintz B.: The Influence of Composition on the Hot Ductility
susceptible than the edge, which is not consistent with the of Steels and to the Problem of Transverse Cracking. ISIJ
observations. International. 1999; 39 (9), 833-55.

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6. Mintz B., Yue S. Jonas J. J.: Hot ductility of steels and its
relationship to the problem of transverse cracking during
continuous casting. International Materials Reviews. 1991;
36 (5), 187-217.
7. Mohamed Z.: Hot ductility behavior of vanadium containing
steels. Materials Science and Engineering. 2002; A326, 255-
60.
10. Svoboda J., Fischer F. D., Fratzl P., Kozeschnik E.: Modelling
of kinetics in multi-component multi-phase systems with
spherical precipitates I. – Theory. Materials science and
engineering / A. 2004; 385 (1-2), 166-174.
11. Mintz B., Yue S., Jonas J. J.: Hot ductility of steels and its
relationship to the problem of transverse cracking during

8. Leuschke U., Kirsch D., Grafe U., Plociennik U., Reifferscheid continuous casting. International Materials Reviews. 1991;
M.: Ursache von Kantenrissen an Vorblöcken beim Gießen 36 (5), 187-217.
rissempfindlicher Werkstoffe. stahl und eisen. 2017: 137 (5),
12. Mintz B., Crowther D.N.: Hot ductility of steels and its
63-69.
relationship to the problem of transverse cracking in
9. Erdem Hornauer E., Grafe U., Plociennik U., Klos W.,
continuous casting. International Materials Reviews. 2010;
Reifferscheid M., Luettenberg M.: Recent advances in
the understanding of the role of vanadium carbonitride 55 (3), 168-196.
precipitation to improve surface edge cracking on continuous
13. Thermo-Calc Software. URL: https://www.thermocalc.com/
casting of blooms. IOP Conf.Series: Materials Science and
Engineering. 2019; 529.

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STEEL TECHNOLOGY VOL. 65 NO. 3

New Mould Design for

Improved Cooling Conditions
ASM Advanced Slab Mould

HANS-DIRK PIWOWAR
KME Germany GmbH & Co. KG , Osnabrück, D-49074, Germany
JUAN CARLOS DELGADO
ArcelorMittal Lázaro Cárdenas Flat Carbon, Cd Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico

Introduction
The solidification of the liquid steel in a continuous casting
machine is initiated in the mould, where the steel shell is formed
and shaped. One main task of the mould is therefore to extract the
superheat from the liquid steel and dissipate this energy into the
cooling water. Besides the request for high thermal conductivity
of the mould’s copper material, an appropriate cooling design
has to be chosen as the basis for good performance as well as Fig 1: view on hotfaces of curved mould: hotspots at threaded inserts and
the requested product quality. The target should be to design a temperature differences at fixside and loose side clearly visible
homogenous cooling system which is essential for reaching best
Many Continuous Casting Machines (CCM) that have
possible conditions to form a shell with low stresses to minimize
been in operation for years are improving their capabilities by
risk of cracks in the shell.
increased casting speed or making a wider range of steel grades.
Many developments in the wide field of continuous casting Especially in cases where these changed production conditions
were implemented during recent years, but only minor changes were not achieved via a machine revamping, the inhomogeneous
were done to the primary cooling design for standard slab temperature profile of the old copper plate design will not only
moulds. The result is that still today the standard cooling design negatively influence the lifetime of the copper plates, but also the
for mould copper plates of slab casters consists of regions of thin slab quality.
vertical slots machined into the copper plate having a certain
Additionally the design of such CCMs is often limited in the
spacing. These regions of vertical slots are separated by bolting
water quantity required to increase the water volume to the flows
lands where threaded inserts are installed that are used for the
required for the new casting parameters so as to ensure sufficient
assembly of the copper plate to the water box. Such a design
cooling. This deficit in water capacity cannot easily be solved
results in an inhomogeneous temperature profile with “hot spots”
without implementation of additional pump equipment involving
in front of the threaded inserts, in worst conditions with cracks at
higher investments.
the hotface.
Problems of standard slot cooling design: Inhomogeneous
This problem is further exacerbated with curved moulds
temperature profile and insufficient water flow
(i.e. curved hot face with straight bottom of slots) that result in
different copper thicknesses in front of the cooling water over the 1. Inhomogeneous temperature profile causes unfavourable
height of the plates. This leads to different temperatures at fixside conditions for the solidification of the steel shell that increases
and loose side, Fig.1. internal stresses and the risk of cracks or even breakouts.

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STEEL TECHNOLOGY
2. Inhomogeneous temperature profile means inappropriate
pre-conditions for the casting powder that need constant
thermal working conditions within a small temperature range
to guarantee best performance (such as even distribution and
lubrication).
3. In cases where CCMs have increased their productivity above
their original design capacity (e.g. casting with increased
speed), the problem of insufficient water volume of the pumps
can only be solved by additional pumping capacity.
4. Furthermore this insufficient water flow and its low velocity
leads to an increase in copper plate temperature resulting in
early loss of hardness resulting in marks or scratches from
any online width adjustment in addition to faster wear of the
plates.
5. The higher hot face temperature increases the risk of copper
attack and / or coating attack by harmful elements such as
zinc or sulphur from the steel melt.
6. Additionally, the higher hot face temperature due to
insufficient or inadequate water flow will increase the risk
of deposits in the cooling slots that will reduce heat transfer,
further aggravating the previously described problems of
hardness drop and material attack.
These basic problems of inhomogeneous temperature profile
and low cooling efficiency will not only result in short lifetime
of the copper plates but more importantly, in quality problems at
the slabs.
With all these points to consider, KME searched for a solution
to improve the cooling efficiency and the cooling conditions at
steel plants facing similar kinds of problem.
Challenge & Solution
The challenge was therefore to fulfil the need for improved
mould performance, slab quality, and increased mould lifetime
with low investment costs by using the existing cooling system
equipment without any changes.
Based on KME’s proven Advanced Mould Designs such as
ABBM® for Beam Blank Moulds and the AFM® for thin slab
funnel moulds (Fig. 2; of which already more than 500 plates has
been supplied to customers all over the world), KME developed
the Advanced Slab Mould “ASM”, which is a new mould
system composed of thin-walled copper plates with improved
“sheet cooling” (“water gap-type cooling”) design and non-
corrosive adapter plates.
Fig. 2: AFM Advanced Funnel Mould
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
Design features of the ASM
Based on above targets, the special features of the ASM mould
are:
• thin walled copper plate of ~30mm thickness with the same
or even greater working thickness compared to the standard
plate
• water gap-type cooling of ~5mm cross section for
homogeneous cooling all over the plate
• water cooling gap maintained to within ~ 25mm to the plate’s
edges for proper cooling, even with high mould level position
• floating, stress-free attachment of the copper plate to the
adapter plate
• re-usable adapter plate of high strength, non-magnetic, non-
corrosive copper-based alloy
Main advantages of the ASM-Mould result from
A) the novel concept of a uniform water cooling gap and
B) the utilization of constant copper working thickness over the
plate’s height
A) Cooling by means of a uniform water gap (“sheet
cooling”):
The novel concept of a uniform water gap for copper mould
plates is comparable to the cooling design used with copper
mould tubes with their surrounding water jackets.
The backside (cooling side) of the ASM copper plate is flat
with numerous raised “islands” in regular arrangement.
These islands have a height of ~5mm and encase the threaded
inserts as assembly points for the adapter plate.
The copper plate is stress-free attached at these islands to the
adapter plate.
This assembly creates the 5mm high water gap between the
copper plate and the adapter plate.
B) Utilization of constant copper working thickness
Cooling problems are even more severe for curved moulds.
With the hot face of such plates being curved, the vertical cooling
slots have a constant depth.
On the one hand, this ensures a constant cooling water velocity
from top to bottom.
But on the other hand this results in different copper thicknesses
over the complete height of both copper plates. Even worse is
the difference in copper thicknesses between fixed side plate and
loose side plate at the same mould height, which can reach up to
~8 mm difference in copper thickness at the meniscus level!
Such extreme difference in copper thickness will cause high
difference in the hotface temperatures between fixed side and
loose side (see Fig 1)!
STEEL TECHNOLOGY
Consequently, this provides unfavourable conditions for
the performance of a casting powder and leads to non-uniform
solidification of the steel with the risk of quality defects.
The advantages of the ASM mould, especially for curved
plate designs, results from the combination of two main features:
keeping the water gap everywhere the same (i.e. 5mm) while,
at the same time, using a constant copper thickness all over the
plate’s height! This ensures the same water velocity as well as
constant cooling conditions over the entire plate, not only to get
a homogeneous cooling on each plate itself but also to have the
same hot face temperatures and solidification conditions on both
plates, loose as well as fixed side.
This homogeneity will improve the conditions for the casting
powder. If the temperature range can be kept within tight limits,
the powder will melt and distribute itself evenly, supplying a
constant slag film thickness all around the circumference of
the meniscus level, which further improves the homogeneous
solidification of the shell, leading to better surface quality and
reducing the risk of cracking by reducing the internal stresses in
the shell.
The new “sheet cooling” design with the flat water gap also
has the positive effect to be less sensitive to blockage by dirt/
corrosion particles out of the cooling water or water box.
There are also further economic advantages of this improved
maintenance:
- No need for disassembly the copper plate from the adapter
plate for the re-coating process (i.e. the ASM copper plate
will remain on its adapter plate during its complete lifetime).
- Reduced amount of water jackets is possible. There are steel
plants that send the complete unit (water box + standard
copper plate) for re-coating and re-machining of the casting
surface. Now the greater stiffness of the ASM-plate system
(consisting of copper and adapter plates) makes it possible
to send only the adapter plate together with the copper plate
for re-machining and re-coating. That means that during the
ASM re-coating work, the water box stays available at the
CCM.
Depending on the existing mould design the above described
features of the ASM-“sandwich” version (adapter plate behind
a thin copper plate) can also be adopted so as the adapter plates
are used as “inlays” within the original copper plate thickness,
Fig 3.
Fig 3: alternative design of an ASM mould
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VOL. 65 NO. 3
Independent of these different ASM solutions, the
interchangeability is ensured:
- All water connections and fixing points of the mould and
mould frame remain unchanged to ensure the compatibility of
ASM-mould and the standard mould with existing waterbox.
- The existing mould level control system as well as
thermocouple system can remain unchanged. All available
types and geometries of coating (i.e. step coating, full-face
coating, Ni-coating, Ni-alloy-coating, ceramic coatings, etc.)
can be applied to the ASM-copper.
Summary
As described in the above paragraphs, the change from
standard design to the ASM mould can be done without changes
to the existing CCM machine. The new design provides a more
homogeneous and tight temperature profile that results in better
conditions for mould powder performance and the solidification
of the steel.
Industrial Results
The first 2 sets of an ASM-mould were supplied in 2011 to
Arcelor Mittal Lázaro Cárdenas Flat Carbon, Mexico, Fig.4.
This plant has 2 Continuous Casting Machines (CCM) with
2 strands each, both of the same design with curved moulds,
able to cast slabs in dimensions between 965 to 1930mm, with
thicknesses of 200mm, 220mm or 250mm.
Heat size is 200 tons, equal to 100 tons/heat per strand.
Lázaro Cárdenas’ standard copper plate design has a curved
hot face and constant slot depth of 25mm with the disadvantages
of large copper thickness differences between fixside and loose
side..
Due to the described disadvantages of the curved mould design,
combined with the steel plant’s productivity upgrade to increased
casting speed and wider range of steel grades, the lifetime of the
plates was limited to approximately 800 heats (~80,000 tons) per
campaign, reaching a total of 8 campaigns or 6500 heats (with
total re-machining thickness 10mm). To improve the lifetime as
well as the slab quality, trials with the ASM-design was decided.
Fig 4: 1st ASM mould at AM Lázaro Cárdenas
First cast with ASM set no.1 was done on November 3rd,
2011 on the 2-strand CCM no.1, strand #1, while strand #2 was
equipped with a standard mould.
STEEL TECHNOLOGY VOL. 65 NO. 3

The first campaign of this ASM set no.1 reached 1341heats

(= 134,100ton) in August 2012 with only 0.6mm removed in the
subsequent machining operation, and even 199,900ton during its
second campaign (Aug.2012 – Feb.2014).
ASM set no.2 was used from Jan. 2012 to Aug. 2013 and
reached 1865heats (=186,500ton), with just 1.3mm removed
during refurbishment. It is actually in use again.
A wide spectrum of steel grades was cast such as HSLA, ULC,
Peritectic, Alloyed Peritectic MC and HC steels.
AM Lázaro Cárdenas made tests with different casting powders
as one important influencing factor to the casting operations and
surface quality to analyse the influence.
With the change of the powder type it was possible to further
improve the surface quality for peritectic grades from 17,74%
(ratio of production of peritectic grades with surface defects when
using standard mould) to 11,31% (ratio of production of peritectic
grades with surface defects when using ASM mould).
Beside the increase in lifetime of more than twice that of
standard plates, also a general improvement in surface quality
of 2.5% was reported with regards to depressions, longitudinal
cracks and deep oscillation marks.
This especially includes an improvement for peritectic steel
grades of ~20%!
In detail, following quality improvements with regards to
surface depression, surface longitudinal cracks and surface
transverse cracks could be reached:
quality improvements with regards to surface depression
conventional mould 3.19% ASM mould 3.02%
quality improvements with regards to surface longitudinal cracks
conventional mould 1.20% ASM mould 0.55%
quality improvements with regards to surface transverse cracks.
conventional mould 0,89% ASM mould 0,8%
No problems were reported during the usage of the ASM
mould sets!
Conclusion
A new mould system composed of a thin-walled copper plate
with stress-free attachment to an adapter plate was presented
providing a novel concept of flat water gap cooling (“sheet
cooling”) combined with constant working copper thickness. The
use of this thin copper plate mould design with enhanced cooling
at Lázaro Cárdenas Flat Carbon, Mexico led to double lifetime and
improvements in slab quality. An overall performance improvement
in surface quality (surface depressions, surface longitudinal cracks,
surface transversal cracks) of approx. 2.5% could be reached, in the
range of peritectic grades of even around 20%.
Further tests and evaluations are ongoing.

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 125 | AUGUST 2021

STATISTICS VOL. 65 NO. 1

World Crude Steel Production

June - 2021

Contd...

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 126 | AUGUST 2021

STATISTICS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Crude Steel Production

Regions y-o-y growth rates (%) Jun’21 Million Tonnes Jun’21 y-o-y growth rates (%) Jan-Jun’21 Million Tonnes Jan-Jun’21
Africa 46.9 1.5 28.0 8.0
Asia and Oceania 6.4 122.5 13.8 737.0
CIS 9.1 8.9 8.7 53.3
European Union (27) 34.7 13.2 18.4 77.8
Other Europe 21.0 4.3 18.1 25.2
Middle East 9.1 3.6 8.7 21.4
North America 45.2 10.0 16.4 58.7
South America 51.3 3.9 28.1 22.6
World 11.6 167.9 14.41 1 003.91
1worldsteel collects data from 64 countries, accounting for approximately 98% of total world crude steel production in 2020.

Top 10 Steel-Producing Countries

Countries y-o-y growth rates (%) Jun’21 Million Tonnes Jun’21 y-o-y growth rates (%) Jan-Jun’21 Million Tonnes Jan-Jun’21
China 1.5 93.9 11.8 563.3
India 21.4 9.4 31.3 57.9
Japan 44.4 8.1 13.8 48.1
United States 44.4 7.1 15.5 42.0
Russia 11.4 6.4 8.5 38.2
South Korea 17.3 6.0 8.3 35.2
Germany 38.2 3.4 18.1 20.6
Turkey 17.9 3.4 20.6 19.7
Brazil 45.2 3.1 24.0 18.1
Iran 1.9 2.5 8.0 15.0
Courtesy: worldsteel.org

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STATISTICS VOL. 65 NO. 3

DOMESTIC
Crude Steel
June 2021 (2021 - 22) (Prov.)
(In ’000 Tonnes)
June June Vis - A - Vis May April - June
Producers 2021-22 2020-21 % Variation June 2021 May 2021 % Variation 2021-22 2020-21 % Variation
(Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.)
A. SAIL 1303 892 46.1 1303 1237 5.3 3770 2474 52.4
B. TSL GROUP 1516 1340 13.1 1516 1591 -4.7 4626 3126 48.0
C. RINL 441 177 149.8 441 448 -1.6 1360 581 134.0
D. AM/NS (ESSAR) 600 587 2.1 600 606 -1.1 1831 1218 50.3
E. JSPL 582 570 2.1 582 587 -0.8 1775 1554 14.3
F. JSWL 1345 1107 21.6 1345 1352 -0.5 4046 2882 40.4
G. OTHER 3575 3036 17.7 3575 3229 10.7 10394 5429 91.5
TOTAL PRODUCTION 9362 7709 21.4 9362 9050 3.4 27802 17263 61.1
Total PSU Production 1744 1069 63.2 1744 1685 3.5 5131 3055 67.9
% Share of PSU 18.6 13.9 18.6 18.6 18.5 17.7
% Share of Oxygen Route Production 43 39 43 45 43 45
% Share of EAF Route Production 29 30 29 29 30 30
% Share of IF Route Production 28 31 28 26 27 25

Finished Steel
June 2021 (2021 - 22) (Prov.)
(In ’000 Tonnes)
June June Vis - A - Vis May April - June
Producers 2021-22 2020-21 % Variation June 2021 May 2021 % Variation 2021-22 2020-21 % Variation
(Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.)
A. SAIL 1002 642 56.2 1002 1022 -1.9 3028 1455 108.0
B. TSL GROUP 1502 1158 29.7 1502 1523 -1.4 4566 2480 84.1
C. RINL 288 104 176.2 288 304 -5.2 889 214 316.1
D. AM/NS (ESSAR) 568 611 -7.1 568 618 -8.0 1812 1220 48.5
E. JSPL 391 312 25.3 391 390 0.3 1241 595 108.5
F. JSWL 1301 968 34.4 1301 1334 -2.5 3925 2506 56.7
G. OTHER 3700 3148 17.5 3700 3300 12.1 10874 5565 95.4
TOTAL PRODUCTION 8752 6943 26.1 8752 8490 3.1 26334 14034 87.6
Total PSU Production 1290 746 73.0 1290 1326 -2.7 3917 1669 134.7
% Share of PSU 14.7 10.7 14.7 15.6 14.9 11.9

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STATISTICS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Production, Imports, Exports, Availability & Consumption

June 2021 (Provisional)
(In ’000 Tonnes)
Finished Steel
Non-Alloy Steel Alloy & Stainless Steel Total
Producers 2021 - 22 2020 - 21 % Variation 2021 - 22 2020 - 21 % Variation 2021 - 22 2020 - 21 % Variation
(Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.)
a) Production
SAIL 993 631 57.5 9 11 -16.4 1002 642 56.2
TSL GROUP 1472 1147 28.3 31 11 183.1 1502 1158 29.7
RINL 288 104 176.2 0 0 288 104 176.2
AM/NS (ESSAR) 568 611 -7.1 0 0 568 611 -7.1
JSPL 382 306 24.6 9 6 64.0 391 312 25.3
JSWL 1255 933 34.5 45 35 31.0 1301 968 34.4
OTHER 3240 2918 11.0 460 230 100.1 3700 3148 17.5
Total Production 8198 6651 23.3 554 292 89.9 8752 6943 26.1
b) Imports 260 193 34.2 141 72 95.5 401 266 50.9
c) Exports 1278 1469 -12.9 90 83 8.6 1369 1552 -11.8
d) Availability (a + b - c) 7179 5376 33.5 605 281 115.4 7784 5657 37.6
Opening Stock 8302 13965 159 165 8462 14130
Closing Stock 7974 13244 81 188 8055 13432
e) Variation in Stock -328 -721 -78 24 -406 -698
f) ASU (Consumption) 7507 6097 23.1 683 258 165.3 8190 6355 28.9

Production, Imports, Exports, Availability & Consumption

June 2021 Vis – A – Vis May 2021 (Provisional)

(In ’000 Tonnes)

Finished Steel
Non-Alloy Steel Alloy & Stainless Steel Total
Producers June May % Variation June May % Variation June May % Variation
(Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.) (Prov.)
a) Production
SAIL 993 998 -0.5 9 24 -62.0 1002 1022 -1.9
TSL GROUP 1472 1495 -1.6 31 28 7.4 1502 1523 -1.4
RINL 288 304 -5.2 0 0 288 304 -5.2
AM/NS (ESSAR) 568 618 -8.0 0 0 568 618 -8.0
JSPL 382 385 -0.9 9 4 104.5 391 390 0.3
JSWL 1255 1278 -1.8 45 56 -19.4 1301 1334 -2.5
OTHER 3240 2883 12.4 460 417 10.2 3700 3300 12.1
Total Production 8198 7959 3.0 554 531 4.4 8752 8490 3.1
b) Imports 260 266 -2.4 141 127 11.8 401 393 2.2
c) Exports 1278 1170 9.3 90 67 34.5 1369 1237 10.6
d) Availability (a + b - c) 7179 7055 1.8 605 590 2.6 7784 7645 1.8
Opening Stock 8302 8535 159 148 8462 8683
Closing Stock 7974 8302 82 159 8055 8462
e) Variation in Stock -328 -233 -78 12 -406 -222
f) ASU (Consumption) 7507 7288 3.0 683 579 18.1 8190 7867 4.1

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STATISTICS VOL. 65 NO. 3

Trend of Imports of Iron & Steel for Last 3 Months (Prov.)

Quantity: ’000 Tonnes
Category Apr- Apr- % May- May- % Jun- Jun- %
21(P) 20 Change (P) 21(P) 20 Change (P) 21(P) 20 Change (P)
Pig Iron 0.5 0.7 -31.8 1.4 0.9 51.1 2.1 0.9 137.9
Sponge Iron 3.3 2.4 33.6 4.2 4.8 -11.9 4.7 5.1 -7.1
Billets 1.4 1.5 -8.1 1.2 8.7 -86.3 1.6 3.6 -56.4
Re-Rollable 11.3 7.8 44.2 11.8 18.8 -37.5 10.6 5.5 91.7
Semis - Alloy 2.8 1.3 109.7 2.3 1.9 21.9 5.5 1.5 266.2
Total Semis 15.5 10.7 45.1 15.3 29.5 -48.1 17.7 10.6 66.3
1. Bars & Rods 6.8 15.6 -56.5 15.8 10.6 49.4 7.3 2.4 198.4
2. Structurals 1.4 3.0 -51.5 1.4 1.4 -2.1 1.4 2.6 -47.9
3. Rly. Materials 7.1 5.7 23.9 3.1 2.2 38.0 0.9 15.5 -94.4
Total ( 1 - 3 ) 15.3 24.3 -37.0 20.2 14.2 42.4 9.5 20.6 -53.7
4. Plates 8.5 27.1 -68.6 33.7 68.6 -50.8 3.9 15.2 -74.3
5. H.R.Coils/Skelp 62.0 79.2 -21.8 65.6 113.8 -42.3 74.6 61.9 20.6
6. H.R.Sheets 0.0 0.0 -100.0 0.0 0.2 -100.0 0.0 0.1 -100.0
7. C.R.Sheets/Coils 19.5 24.2 -19.4 24.7 22.6 9.2 25.0 7.9 215.3
8. GP & GC/Galvalume 64.9 51.7 25.4 50.9 50.0 1.8 75.8 39.7 90.9
9. Color Coated Coils/Sheets 9.5 6.9 37.9 6.1 11.6 -47.1 10.3 5.0 104.2
10. Elec. Sheets 37.4 39.4 -5.1 49.0 31.4 55.9 31.8 16.1 98.0
11. Tinplate (incl. ww) 15.9 6.6 139.8 5.3 13.6 -61.3 9.1 7.5 22.1
12. TMBP 0.1 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 -
13. Pipes (Large Dia.) 10.2 10.4 -2.1 9.7 16.2 -40.2 16.9 15.2 11.0
14. Tin free steel 2.9 2.3 23.4 0.8 9.9 -91.6 2.7 4.2 -36.5
Total ( 4 - 13 ) 230.8 247.9 -6.9 245.8 337.8 -27.2 250.1 172.8 44.7
Total ( Non - Alloy ) 246.1 272.2 -9.6 266.1 352.0 -24.4 259.6 193.4 34.2
14. Alloy & SS Non-Flat 24.7 33.3 -25.8 25.7 35.4 -27.6 24.8 16.1 53.9
15. Alloy & SS Flat 92.7 101.4 -8.5 100.9 152.0 -33.6 116.7 56.3 107.4
Total ( Alloy & SS ) 117.4 134.7 -12.8 126.5 187.4 -32.5 141.4 72.3 95.5
Total Finished Steel 363.6 406.9 -10.7 392.6 539.4 -27.2 401.0 265.7 50.9
Total Steel 379.0 417.6 -9.2 407.9 568.9 -28.3 418.7 276.4 51.5

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STATISTICS VOL. 65 NO. 3

RETAIL MARKET PRICE REPORT

KOLKATA
KEY ITEMS

BILLETS 100 MM TMT 12 MM H. R. COILS 2.50 MM C. R. COILS 1.00 MM G. P. SHEETS 0.63 MM

`52,100 `64,250 `76,500 `90,250 `97,500

DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE

600 2000 5830 9500 9000

DELHI
KEY ITEMS

BILLETS 100 MM TMT 12 MM H. R. COILS 2.50 MM C. R. COILS 1.00 MM G. P. SHEETS 0.63 MM

`54,180 `63,630 `76,440 `91,680 `99,530

DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE

40 2580 5160 8520 9440

MUMBAI
KEY ITEMS

BILLETS 100 MM TMT 12 MM H. R. COILS 2.50 MM C. R. COILS 1.00 MM G. P. SHEETS 0.63 MM

`53,820 `59,250 `80,030 `98,370 `1,01,260

DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE

740 100 4740 9630 9750

CHENNAI
KEY ITEMS

BILLETS 100 MM TMT 12 MM H. R. COILS 2.50 MM C. R. COILS 1.00 MM G. P. SHEETS 0.63 MM

`53,400 `61,810 `78,910 `98,700 `1,00,680

DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE

-1300 1000 5000 12000 13600

Courtesy: JPC

IRON & STEEL REVIEW | 134 | AUGUST 2021