Steel Mills Lost 0.5 Million Tonnes Production on LMO Diversion
India’s Steel Minister Mr RCP Singh informed the Lower House of Indian Parliament that Indian steel mills stepped up production of Liquid Medical Oxygen by reducing production of Liquid Nitrogen & Liquid Argon and by reducing usage of oxygen for production to supply 230,262 tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen to to 22 states & UTs to battle recent COVID outbreak, which, reduced production of steel by about 500,000 tonnes during the period April-June 2021. During peak of the second wave, steel sector had enhanced the LMO production considerably. As against 538 tonnes of LMO supplied on 1 April 2021, the supply of LMO peaked to 4,749 tonnes on 13 May 2021.
LMO Supplied – 1 April to 25 July
JSW Steel - 74,695 tonnes
SAIL - 68,520 tonnes
Tata Steel - 30,025 tonnes
AMNS India - 11,865 tonnes
RINL - 9,947 tonnes
Kalyani - 6,600 tonnes
JSL - 3,885 tonnes
JSPL - 2,963 tonnes
Vedanta ESL 475 tonnes
The steel mill wise detail of LMO supplies made puts JSW Steel & SAIL as top suppliers among top 5 steel makers in India, which is commendable. Unexpectedly, Tata Steel & AMNS India supplied much lesser volumes. Also, extremly low LMO supply volume from JSPL, as mentioned by Steel Minister, is surprising
JSW Steel - 24% capacity share, 38% share in LMO supply
SAIL - 24% capacity share, 35% share in LMO supply
Tata Steel - 21% capacity share, 15% share in LMO supply
AMNS India- 12% capacity share, 6% share in LMO supply
JSPL - 12% capacity share, 1% share in LMO supply
RINL - 7% capacity share, 5% share in LMO supply
Source - Strategic Research Institute