What Do You Know About The Pakistan Steel Mills?

The Pakistan Steel Mills were set up in 1973 with the help of the USSR at Landhi, Karachi. The actual construction of the plant began in 1976 with a capital cost of Rs.25.5 billion. The production capacity of the steel mills is 1.1 million tones per year, with a further possible increase to 3 million tones per year. The mills produce cold rolled sheets, galvanized sheets, pig iron, coal tar, hot rolled coils, cold rolled coils, raw iron billets, hot rolled sheets and formed sections like channels, angles, galvanized sheets, etc. Pakistan exports some raw iron, billets, hot rolled sheets and ammonium sulphate.

Pakistan Steel Mills are, however, meeting only 25% of the country's demands. The rest is being met through imports and ship breaking. The production is seriously hindered by ill planning, corruption and mismanagement. The mill has two blast furnaces that are not working at their optimum capacity. BF I is reportedly deteriorating as its outer lining has been burnt and BF II, which was recently repaired at a cost of Rs.700 million, cannot be run at its full capacity because fine quality pig iron is not available.

However, this is a very important enterprise for Pakistan. Anew seaport was established at Bin Qasim, near Pakistan Steel Mills, to handle its bulk supply needs. Since the iron ore mined in Pakistan is not of a good quality, it must be supplemented by imported ore from Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and Liberia. The coking coal comes mainly from Australia. The Sharing coalmines in Balochistan provide good quality coal which is washed and used by the Pakistan Steel Mills.