India's Tata Steel aims to set up a 750,000 mt/year electric arc furnace-based rebar plant in Punjab state, northwest India, as part of the steelmaker's drive to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045.
The rebar plant and the scrap-based EAF to supply it will be located at Kadiana Khurd, Hitech Valley, Ludhiana in Punjab, the steelmaker said.
Tata Steel signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Punjab on Aug. 26 for the plant and EAF, whose first stage of works are expected to cost Rupees 26 billion ($326.9 million).
"The state-of-the art EAF-based steel plant would produce construction grade steel rebar under the company’s flagship retail brand Tata Tiscon, which would enable Tata Steel to further augment its market presence in the construction segment," it said.
An Indian trader said that "the domestic market will benefit as India is a developing economy and Tata is the most trusted brand in India," adding that rebar exports would be beneficial although noting that the Indian government had introduced an export tax.
If Tata Steel seeks export rebar opportunities to Hong Kong or Singapore market, it would need to apply for UK CARES (Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steels) as it has not obtained it yet.
Tata Steel is building up its ferrous scrap presence in India, having started up its first steel recycling plant at Rohtak, Haryana, in August 2021, with a capacity of 500,000 mt/year.
At the same time, Tata Steel is also expanding its presence in the long steel business, having completed its takeover of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd., or NINL, in July.
Tata Steel plans to restart NINL's 1.1 million mt/year long steel plant at Kalinganagar in Odisha as early as the end of Q3. It aims to expand NINL's capacity by building a 4.5 million mt/year state-of-the-art long products complex in the next few years, and further expand it to 10 million mt/year by 2030. NINL's steel plant at Kalinganagar in Odisha was shut in March 2020 as it was incurring losses.
Tata Steel currently has 3 million mt/year of long steel capacity at Jamshedpur, and the takeover of NINL equates to a capacity hike of at least 40%. NINL's plant will be run by subsidiary Tata Steel Long Products Ltd.
