JKCE recently commenced commercial operations at its greenfield integrated plant at Panna, Madhya Pradesh (Clinker/Grinding capacity of 2.64mtpa/ 2mtpa) and a greenfield grinding unit at Hamirpur, Uttar Pradesh (Grinding capacity of 2mtpa) ahead of its original schedule. Production capacity in Gray Cement now stands at 18.7mtpa.
It is increasing its Gray Cement capacity by 5.5mtpa at an estimated Capex of INR11.6b. This will include brownfield expansion of 2mtpa through debottlenecking at four units and will be completed by Mar’23. JKCE will set up two split greenfield grinding units at Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, and Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh with expected commissioning by 2QFY25.
Clinker capacity at the Panna plant will increase by 2,000tpd to 10,000tpd (from 2.64mtpa to 3.3mtpa) by Sep’23. This, along with the surplus Clinker in North India, will help meet the Clinker requirements of the above-mentioned plants. The management is targeting a 9-10% market share in Central India. The peak production capacity after all expansions will be 22mtpa (90% capacity utilization), based on the 68% Clinker factor. A Clinker factor of 63% may result in full capacity utilization. In FY22, it achieved a Clinker factor of 66%.
