Rising demand

Calcutta, Aug. 1: Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) has embarked on a massive expansion of the ferro-chrome production capacity due to a rising global demand.

Company sources said the production capacity will soar to 3 lakh tonnes per annum from the existing 170 lakh tonnes.

The investment for the expansion project is expected to be over Rs 350 crore.

The Orissa-based ferro-chrome and alloys maker, along with its subsidiary Indian Charge Chrome, is the country’s largest producer of ferro alloys with 130 MVA installed furnace capacity backed up by a 108 MW captive power plant and its own chrome ore mines.

The Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys’ expansion project is coming up at Choudwar. It envisages a 24 MVA furnace to be commissioned in June 2005.

The second phase of the expansion, expected to be commissioned in 2006, will have a 72 MVA furnace capacity along with a 120 MW power plant.

According to Subhrakant Panda, joint managing director of the company, this expansion project, when completed, will give the group an edge over other competitors because of the scale of volume.

He also said a substantial progress has been made by way of finalising orders worth nearly Rs 15 crore.

The group’s major competitor, Tata Steel, has also enhanced its chrome concentrate capacity recently from 1.08 LTPA to up to 4 LTPA.

The largest steel plant in the private sector also plans to further increase the capacity up to 7 LTPA with an additional investment of Rs 37 crore.

The new facilities are expected to be commissioned by the end of the year.

With this, the total capacity for production of chrome concentrate will surpass the one million TPA-mark against the existing 7 lakh tonne capacity.