Indian coke calciners Rain, Goa resume operations

India's leading calcined petroleum coke manufacturer, Rain Industries, is considering resuming full capacity this month, while fellow calciner Goa Carbon restarted operations at one of its plants today.

Rain had suspended operations from 25 March until mid-April after a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19. The startup brought its plants to 50pc capacity after the federal government allowed various industries to restart operations while following safe distancing guidelines. The company is now considering ramping it up to 100pc in the next few days as fresh guidelines related to relaxation were announced from this week, said a market participant. The lockdown, earlier imposed till 3 May, has been extended to 17 May with a range of relaxations in areas with few or no cases of Covid-19.

Fellow calciner Goa Carbon said today it has resumed operations at the Bilaspur unit in the central state of Chhattisgarh. "Normal production will resume shortly," the company said in a communication to the stock exchanges. It had restarted the Paradeep unit in the eastern state of Odisha on 24 April after a month-long shutdown.

Prior to the mandatory suspension of operations, the company had faced operational challenges, prompting it to shut and restart operations at various sites. These disruptions knocked down its calcined coke output in February to less than 2,400t from around 17,400t in January.

Calcined coke demand from Indian smelters is largely unchanged as they continue to operate at pre-lockdown levels. Smelters have so far avoided shutting down as restarting is an expensive process. "There may be some inventory buildup of aluminium with the manufacturers," the participant said. "A gradual recovery in demand from various downstream consuming industries is expected."

But the lower domestic coke production is not expected to create significant additional demand for imported calcined coke, as smelters had sufficient inventories, another participant said. Imports of calcined coke from China had already picked up after that country largely lifted Covid-19 restrictions.

Rain has completed construction of one of two lines at its new calciner in the south Indian city of Visakhapatnam and begun the pre-heating process, the company said on 28 February. It added that its two new anhydrous carbon pellet (ACP) plants, which are needed to supply raw material for the new calciner, will begin producing in the middle of this year. The plan seems to be on track for now. Earnings results for the January-March quarter are expected to be released sometime this month.

By Ajay Modi