By Our Correspondent
ANGUL/BARBIL/BHUBANESWAR: Naveen Jindal, who heads the Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), a Part of $25 Billion O.P Jindal Group, an industrial powerhouse with a dominant presence in steel, power, mining and infrastructure sectors, is a happy man now with his company’s facilities in Odisha’s coal rich Angul and mineral rich Barbil in Keonjhar have registered record in production in month of August despite COVID-19 and flood situations in the State.
JSPL in a tweet @JSPLCorporate said “World’s First Coal Gasification based DRI plant at JSPL Angul has recorded highest ever Gas based DRI production with 72% of rated capacity in August 2020. #BuildingIndia,”. The Company said in another tweet “ JSPL’s Barbil Pellet plant achieved the best-ever production of 7,00,600 tonnes of pellets in the month of August 2020, which is the highest ever monthly production figure since its inception. #BuildingIndia,”.
JSPL said its consolidated steel production rose 21% to 8,25,000 tonnes in August 2020 from 6,81,000 tonnes produced in August 2019.JSPL’s consolidated steel sales jumped 38% to 8,36,000 tonnes in August 2020 compared with the same month last year.On a standalone basis, the company’s steel production rose 18% year-on-year (YoY) to 6,25,000 tonnes in August 2020. Steel sales jumped 37% YoY to 6,82,000 tonnes in August 2020. The company said that steel exports contributed to 42% of the total sales volume.
The company has recorded its highest ever gas based DRI production with over 72% of rated capacity in August 2020. JSPL is consistently working towards its goal of reducing overall debt to Rs 15,000 crore by 2023. The company’s steel export volumes have come down significantly with an increase in domestic sales post the lockdown period. Our target is to achieve Rs 50,000 crore turnover by 2023.JSPL is a steel producer with presence in power generation and mining. The company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 267.58 crore in Q1 June 2020 as against net loss of Rs 87.40 crore in Q1 June 2019. Consolidated net sales fell 6.7% YoY to Rs 9,278.77 crore during the quarter.
JSPL operates the world’s first coal gasification based DRI plant of 2.0 million tonne capacity at Angul in Odisha, where syngas is used to make direct-reduced iron (DRI) or sponge iron, an input required in the steel-making process. JSPL’s coal gasification plant capacity is 225,000 NM3 per hour of syngas, which is supporting the 2.0 million MT of syngas based DRI plant.
