Merchant Chamber vice-president Ashis Jhunjhunwala (left) and Steel Rolling Mills Association chairman S.S. Beriwala (right) in Calcutta on Friday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, March 10: MSTC Ltd, the government agency involved in international trade of coal and iron ore, is planning to set up a large warehouse at Haldia.

The company plans to become an end-to-end supplier of raw materials to the domestic industry. Setting up a warehouse will be the first step in that direction.

MSTC chairman Malay Sengupta said the company had applied to the Haldia Development Authority for 15 acres of land.

“After we get the possession of the land, it will take six months to commission the project,” he said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on long products organised by the Merchant Chamber of Commerce (MCC) here today, Sengupta said MSTC would look at more such opportunities in other eastern ports such as Paradip and Vishakhapatnam.

“The warehousing facility is fairly established on the west coast. So we will focus on the east coast,” he added.

Hindustan Steel Construction Ltd has been appointed to set up the warehouse on a turnkey basis.

In the future, MSTC, which trades in naphtha and raw materials for the iron and steel industry, wants to become a one-stop solution for local buyers.

A customer will only have to place an order for a particular product and the rest will be taken care of by MSTC.

The company will get into a time charter agreement with shipping companies to bring cargo to its warehouse.

On the domestic front, MSTC will tie up with logistic players to deliver parcel load to the factory gate of the customer.

“Warehouse is the only physical infrastructure we need to set up in the whole chain and it takes time. So we have started with this,” Sengupta said.

The Haldia warehouse ? to be used for coal scrap and iron ore ? will entail an investment of Rs 7 crore.

MSTC is expected to close the current financial year with business worth Rs 7,000 crore.

This has come at a time when there has been a decline in physical volume of trade. Scrap import has gone down and so has the import of naphtha.