The Khopoli unit in Maharashtra is the first of four national scrap processing units under a ₹350 crore investment initiative to boost local scrap supply and promote sustainable steelmaking.

ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) has opened its first scrap processing facility at its Khopoli manufacturing location in Maharashtra, with a capacity of 120 kilo tonnes per annum. AM/NS India is developing four scrap processing units around the country as part of a ₹350 crore investment program to fulfil increasing demand for high-quality scrap for steel production and enhance domestic scrap supply chains.

India’s scrap supply chain is currently highly fragmented, with materials passing through numerous middlemen – from local scrap collectors to scrapyards – before reaching consumption sites. This complex procedure raises prices, lowers material quality, and offers little value throughout the supply chain. By processing scrap at its facilities, AM/NS India improves material quality and yield while lowering conversion and logistics costs, thereby formalising the scrap business.

The Khopoli unit’s commissioning and bigger deployment follow a successful pilot project to process scrap on a large scale, which is critical to meeting the increased demand for recycled steels among AM/NS India’s diverse client base, including car makers and ship fleet owners.

Government measures such as the Vehicle Scrappage Policy (2021), Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules (scheduled to go into effect in April 2025), and the Green Steel Taxonomy are all projected to increase domestic scrap supply. AM/NS India’s expanding scrap processing capability will aid government efforts to improve domestic scrap availability and supply chain efficiencies.

Akshaya Gujral, Executive Director of Downstream Operations at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India), says, “India aims to increase the share of scrap metal in steel production to 50 percent by 2047. The steel sector has an important role in developing the infrastructure and ecosystem to support this ambition. Our Khopoli unit, and others that will come on stream this year, will support the formalisation of the domestic scrap industry, service growing customer demand for recycled steels, and contribute to India’s sustainability goals.”

AM/NS India wants to boost the scrap mix in steelmaking capacity to more than 10 percent by 2030, as part of a decarbonisation roadmap outlined in its inaugural Climate Action Report in 2024. The company is proactively incorporating high-quality scrap into its production, with 65 percent of its current steelmaking capacity working on the gas-based Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) – Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) route, which is particularly well-suited for using processed scrap.

For more information, visit: https://www.amns.in/