Steel Exchange to set up Rs 5cr unit in Mauritius

Vizag-based Steel Exchange India Limited, which is into steel trading, steel manufacturing and software business, is planning to set up a steel re-rolling mill in Mauritius at an investment of Rs 5 crore.

Speaking to Business Standard, B Suresh Kumar, director of Steel Exchange of India, said: "The Mauritius government had in-principle agreed to allot 5 acres of land in that country for setting up the 25,000-tonne capacity re-rolling mill. The company would take 8-10 months time to complete the project and would start production from next fiscal."

Steel Exchange India currently has a 70,000-tonne capacity steel melting unit at Ravulapalem in East Godavari district which needs steel billets or scrap as raw material.

The company is now spending Rs 10 crore to expand the capacity of its Ravulapalem unit to around 1,00,000 tonnes a year. To reduce the production cost, Steel Exchange has also formed a joint venture company in Mauritius sometime back.

"There is a lot of demand for steel in Mauritius and its surrounding islands. Keeping this in mind, we are setting up the re-rolling mill in Mauritius at an investment of Rs 5 crore which would be funded through internal accruals. The Mauritius unit will require about 25,000 tonnes of raw material a year which we plan to supply from our Ravulapalem unit. The finished product will be solely sold in Mauritius and its surrounding islands," Suresh Kumar said.