India’s JSW Steel has started trial runs of its new 1.2 million tonnes/year bar mill at its flagship Vijayanagar steelworks, Kallanish learns from the company.

The steelworks, which has a flat product capacity of 5m t/y, will see its wire rod and thermo-mechanically treated bar capacity increase to around 2m t/y when the new bar mill comes on line. The modernisation of blast furnace No.1 and electric steel complex construction at Vijayanagar are on course for completion on schedule. The expansion project to take steel production capacity at its Dolvi plant from 3.3m t/y to 5m t/y is also progressing “satisfactorily,” JSW says.

JSW’s India-based operations recorded 11% year-on-year growth in crude steel output in the second fiscal quarter to 3.3 million tonnes, its highest ever quarterly production (see Kallanish 22 October). Merchant long products output was up 5% to 480,000t, and semis output up 55% to 120,000t; however, saleable flats production fell 5% to 2.47mt. Net profit after tax rose to INR 762 crores ($12.4 million), up from INR 101 crores in the year-earlier period.

JSW’s US-based plate and pipe mills produced 103,000t and 12,000t respectively in Q2, operating at 40% and 9% capacity utilisation. Sales were at 86,000t for plate and 17,000t for pipe. The steelmaker’s Chile-based iron ore operation meanwhile shipped 220,000t of concentrate in the quarter.