India’s state-run steel producer, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has been advised by the Ministry of Steel to push ahead with project for production of special steel, electrical grade steel and other high value added products rather than commoditized steel products in its proposed joint venture with POSCO, South Korea, a ministry official said on Monday, September 14.
He said that it had advised and provided inputs to RINL that the working group of the latter with POSCO, exploring a RINL-POSCO joint venture close to its existing steel mill at Vishakhapatnam, should look into setting up a steel mill that will produce high value added steel products on which the country is currently import dependent like special steel, stainless steel, electrical grade steel and not pure commodity steel products.
The ministry has mandated Indian representatives in the working group to look into such a product portfolio through technology transfer or collaboration between the two steelmaking partners.
RINL which operates a 7.3 million mt per year steel mill in southern India is a pure long product producer and is offering 22,000 acres of land available with it for the proposed joint venture which the government wants to be a pure special steel producing unit, the official added.