Sinosteel to set up plants in India

After having ventured into manufacturing cold forged steel rolls in India, state-owned Chinese steel major Sinosteel now plans to set up two huge steel plants in India, as part of a $2-billion investment in the country.

Sinosteel's cold forged steel rolls manufacturing unit, the foundation stone for which was laid in April 2008, is coming up in at Haldia in West Bengal and will take another year to commission.

The steel maker is investing around $30 million on the Haldia plant, which is spread over 30 acres, and will manufacture 5,000 tonne of cold forged steel rolls for cold rolling mills.

Once operational, the Haldia unit will meet one-third of the requirement of the Indian steel industry. This investment West Bengal is part of a $2-billion package for investments in India.

Meanwhile, the Chinese steel maker, is also planning two new steel plants, one in West Bengal and the other in Jharkhand.

In West Bengal Sinosteel India has identified land in Kharagpur, where it plans to put up a steel plant in joint venture with an Indian steel makerand a larger plant in Jharkand, for which it had signed an MoU with the Jharkhand in 2007.

Sinosteel has planned a 2-million tonne integrated steel plant, in Jharkand, which can be scaled up to 5 million tonnes.

The Jharkhand project is likely to come up in Silli-Chandil area near Ranchi. Sinosteel is eyeing about 300 million tonne of iron ore reserves in the area, for which it will apply for a mining lease.

Sinosteel India, which commenced ore exports in 2005, is already the largest foreign exporter of iron ore from India and exports to its parent in China. Last year it exported 11 million tonnes of ore. 

The $16-billion turnover Sinosteel is the second largest steel company in China.