According to recent news and public statements, India’s Steel Ministry representatives said that India is moving toward steel production growth and focusing on EAFs to achieve the government’s steel production target of 300 million mt by 2030. According to the Ministry, the Indian government is adopting a holistic approach to achieve that target, including improving the recycling industry to provid raw material for the steel industry. The steel production goals could propel India above Turkey as the largest global importer of scrap steel and increase India’s domestic recycling productivity.
The minister said the Indian government’s efforts to recycle ferrous waste products would save 65 percent of iron ore consumption, which is currently the main raw material for steel production and has been affected by a ban on mining in recent years.
According to Dr. Chaudhary Birender Singh, India’s Minister of Steel, his ministry proposes to establish “plants with scrap as the raw material in various parts of northern and western India.” The Ministry expects that in the next several years, 44 percent of the total scrap available in the country would be generated in various locations in the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. The main use for the scrap would be steel production.
The first such plant is expected to begin before the end of 2017 in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, followed by one in southern India. State-run metal scrap trading firm MSTC signed a joint venture agreement with Mahindra Intertrade, part of the $17.8 billion Mahindra Group, for setting up the first plant. Additionally, Hyundai has expressed interest in setting up the southern India plant.