JSW Steel commissions pellet plant at Monnet Ispat.

JSW Steel has restarted production at the two million tonne per annum pellet plant at Monnet Ispat and Energy and ramped up the Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) production to its optimal capacity to bring down the cost.

TheSajjan Jindal-owned JSW Steel along with Aion Investments acquired Monnet Ispat in September in an insolvency driven process. The combine, which was the only bidder for Monnet asset, paid Rs. 2,875 crore while Monnet owed banks Rs. 11,000 crore.

Seshagiri Rao, Joint Managing Director, JSW Steel told Business Line that when DRI plant was operating at lower capacity Monnet was buying iron ore and pellet from open market and now the cost will come down after commissioning of the pellet plant.

While DRI plant is working at its full capacity, the pellet is now operating at 60 per cent utilisation and will be ramped up progressively, he added.

HBL