Essar Steel on Wednesday announced the commissioning of a 3.5-million tonne per annum (MTPA) compact strip production (CSP) mill. The mill is supplied by SMS Siemag, Germany capable of producing strips of thickness as low as 0.8 mm.
The product can be used in general engineering, line pipes for the hydrocarbons industry, welded tubes, electrical steel, automotive industry and LPG. The mill is also capable of producing high strength steels, including dual phase steel.
According to the company, the CSP mill is crucial for its expansion at the Hazira complex. The company is spending Rs 13,500 crore to increase capacity at Hazira to 10 MTPA from 4.6 MTPA at present.
As part of this expansion, Essar Steel has already commissioned two iron making units — a blast furnace with a capacity of 1.73 MTPA and a DRI unit of 1.74 MTPA, a conarc furnace of 2.5 MTPA and a continuous caster of 1.45 MTPA.
The company recently commissioned the country's first 5-m wide plate mill with a capacity of 1.5 MTPA and a pipe mill with an annual capacity of 0.6 MTPA. In addition, Essar has also invested in supporting infrastructure at Hazira which includes power plants of 1,015 MW at cost of Rs 3,450 crore and an all-weather port of 30 MTPA at a cost of Rs 1,350 crore.