India JSW is considering shutting down a steel mill in America

May 21 MetalBiz - Indian JSW is considering shutting down a plate mill in Texas of America at the end of the month. Its annual production capacity is 1.2mln tons and the current capacity utilization rate is only 10%-15%.

The company is scheduled to stop production for two or three months due to the weak demand. It has enough plate inventories to supply the pipe steel mills in America and also can purchase from the local market. Additionally, the company will transform and upgrade the mill to wait for the market being better.

JSW purchased this steel mill located in Texas in November of 2007 with U.S.$810mln. Its annual production is 1.2mln of plate and 500,000tons of pipe. However, due to the depressed economy many resource projects involving oil and natural gas are delayed or cancelled, and the steel demands significantly shrink, which forces JSW to have to close the plate production.  

Before it was reported that JSW is seeking to sell the mills in America in order to reduce the loss, but JSW denied the rumors.