JSW launches Platina tinplates for packaging

JSW Steel, the flagship business of JSW Group, has introduced Platina, a premium tinplate material, aimed at the Indian packaging industry. For the project’s establishment, the company has invested close to Rs 1,000-crore to expand its tinplate capacity to five-lakh metric tonnes, at its Tarapur unit in Maharastra.

26 Jul 2019 | By Abhishek Muralidharan

Platina is an eco-friendly packaging product

Jayant Acharya, director, commercial, marketing and a strategy for JSW Steel, said, “JSW Steel becomes the first steel company to introduce continuous annealing technology for making tinplate products in India. This technology ensures the availability of quality tinplate steel for packaging. Our investment of close to Rs 1,000-crore reflects the burgeoning opportunity for JSW Platina to become a preferred packaging alternative in India in the long term.”

Platina is an eco-friendly packaging product that in a way focuses on carbon footprint reduction. It enables JSW to tap the opportunity for tinplate products in the Indian packaging segment but also add to the cause of eliminating single-use plastics in the country.

In addition, the tinplates are being offered as a Made In India alternative for packaging manufacturers as annealed tinplates are, so far, entirely imported by packaging manufacturers. “Our technologically advanced product is well-positioned to reduce the foreign exchange burden of these manufacturers through import substitution with JSW Platina,” said Acharya.

Amit Agarwal, CEO, JSW Steel Coated Products, said, “Our state-of-the-art continuous annealing line process ensures high uniformity in terms of gauge and temper of tinplate. Uniformity and precision are the most crucial differentiators for manufacturers with high-speed can lines as it helps them increase their yield per tonne while reducing rejections.”

The new investment enables JSW Steel to increase its production capacity at Tarapur to five-lakh metric tonnes. Currently, JSW Steel has a cumulative installed capacity of 3.5-lakh metric tonnes tinplate, out of which one lakh metric tonnes are being produced by its JV unit (JSW Vallabh Tinplate) and the balance 2.5-lakh metric tonnes at its newly established tinplate facility at Tarapur in Maharastra.

The tinplates are available as tin-free steel (TFS) in both single reduced (SR) and double reduced (DR) varieties, according to the end-use requirement. Annealing and temper rolling mill/ double cold rolling mills are used to provide the base material with the degree of a hardness that distinguishes the nature of the tinplate.

“JSW Platina, a continuous annealed tinplate product will enable our customers to achieve higher productivity which in turn can have a direct bearing on the scale, efficiency, and profitability of their business. The continuous annealed tinplate process ensures lower production lead time of JSW Platina thereby enabling faster delivery to our customers," added Agarwal.

It has a wide variety of applications in both food and non-food packaging such as from food cans, juices, coffee cans, edible oils, ghee and battery, aerosol cans, crown corks and many others.