2024-08-16 20:55:46
New Delhi: Today is the 78th anniversary of India’s independence. Jindal Stainless is the country’s largest stainless steel manufacturing company in India. It has received great news just before Independence Day. Yes, it has announced the commissioning of its Nickel Pig Iron facility in Indonesia eight months before the scheduled deadline. This plant is located in an industrial area of Halmahera Island there. The company has given this information to BSE and NSE.
Plant is being set up in joint venture
Jindal Stainless has developed a nickel pig iron plant in Indonesia as a joint venture (JV) with New Yaking Pte. Ltd. This is to ensure long-term availability of nickel for stainless steel production. It is noteworthy that Jindal Stainless announced a collaboration agreement with New Yaking Private Limited in March 2023. Under the agreement, the company acquired a 49% equity stake for approximately US$157 million.
Why is availability of nickel important?
Nickel is a very important metal in the making of stainless steel. If this metal is not added in sufficient quantity, then the utensils made of that stainless steel start cracking in a few years. In fact, the addition of nickel makes stainless steel a versatile alloy. Apart from having corrosion resistance, nickel-containing stainless steel is easy to form and weld into any shape. They remain flexible at very low temperatures and can still be used for high temperature applications. In addition, unlike conventional steel and non-nickel-containing stainless steel, they are non-magnetic. This means that they can be made into an exceptionally wide range of products spanning the chemical industry, the health sector and household uses. How important nickel is in this sector can be gauged from the fact that nickel-containing grades account for about 80% of stainless steel production. Stainless steel grade 304 contains 8% nickel and grade 316 requires the addition of 11% nickel.
There is no known source of nickel in India. This move will help us meet our raw material requirement to some extent in a volatile market, which is largely determined by fluctuations in nickel prices.
Abhyuday Jindal, MD, Jindal Stainless
bold move
Commenting on the milestone, Abhyuday Jindal, Managing Director, Jindal Stainless said, “This joint venture is the first bold move by any Indian stainless steel manufacturer to source raw material from outside the country as there is no known source of nickel in India. This move will help us meet our raw material requirement to some extent in a volatile market, which is largely determined by fluctuating nickel prices. Achieving this milestone ahead of schedule reflects our resolve and collaboration with our partners, and we hope to start commercial production at the facility soon.”
This year’s big announcement was
On May 1 this year, Jindal Stainless also announced a three-pronged strategic investment. As part of this strategy, the company has entered into a collaboration agreement with a Singapore-based company to set up a stainless steel melt shop in Indonesia. The company is also improving and upgrading infrastructure at Jajpur, Odisha. Additionally, the company has completed the acquisition of Cromeni Steels Private Limited in Gujarat to enhance the capacity of its cold-rolling facility as part of its long-term vision to increase the proportion of cold-rolled products in its product range.
Jindal Stainless Share Price
Although Jindal Stainless announced the news of commissioning of a new plant in Indonesia after the stock market closed yesterday, the company’s shares closed higher on the BSE yesterday. On Tuesday, Jindal Stainless’s shares closed at Rs 694.15. Yesterday, i.e. on Wednesday, it opened at Rs 704.70 in the morning, which was the highest level of that day. Later, it fell to Rs 681.55 during trading. After the close of trading, it closed at Rs 695.35, up Rs 1.20 from the previous day.