Tata Steel may use Corus tech for new plants

Tata Steel may use the technology used by Corus for its new greenfield plants proposed to be set up Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, Managing Director of the company B Muthuraman said on Friday.

Muthuraman said the technology used by Corus, the British steel maker which it had acquired recently, was the direct reduction method.

He told reporters in Kolkata that there was a possibility that this new method would be used in the new plants which the company proposed to set up. The company's only plant in Jamshedpur uses blast furnace technology.

Speaking about the synergy which Tata Steel would derive after the acquisition of Corus, Muthuraman said that in the first three years, the company would save around 130 million dollar per year for the first three years. Thereafter, the savings would be $400 million per year.

The company was also in the process of preparing the vision document for the year 2015.

Asked whether steel prices would go up due to rise in input costs, Muthuraman said that barring some short term fluctuations, prices would remain stable in the long term.

Tata Steel has also applied for coal mines licenses.