On Friday, Tata Steel told the media that it shipped 9,000 tonnes of LD slag, a by-product of producing the metal, to Bangladesh, in the first such shipment from India to the neighbouring nation.

It exported the product via Dhamra Port to the Bangladesh market from its unit in Odisha's Dhenkanal district. LD (Linz-Donawitz) slag is generated during the steel manufacturing process.

This effort is another milestone in the firm's operations as it marks India's first export of LD slag to Bangladesh. Cemcoa Limited, a Hong Kong-based trade house and a current buyer of Tata Steel BSL, has displayed a keen interest in the market growth of LD slag in the cement manufacturing process in Bangladesh and expedited the export, it said. Test and trial of LD slag have already been done in the plant involved in Bangladesh, and the intended plan is to ship 100 KT (kilo tonne) of the by-product per annum. Tata Steel BSL Chief Operating Officer Subodh Pandey, while commenting on this endeavour, told the media that the firm has always observed operational and market-oriented innovations by generating value out of its by-products as part of its search to a sustainable future. With a customer-centric strategy, this is one of the series of interventions they are doing to improve their product portfolio and explore newer markets.

The firm presently manufactures about 1 million tonnes of LD slag per annum. In collaboration with its customers, the steel major has made a 0-6 mm size slag range for applications in cement production. The firm has been providing LD slag to brick makers and national highway work for hard surfacing and low land area filling. It additionally provides the product to cement firms in Odisha and West Bengal. ly provides the product to cement firms in Odisha and West Bengal.

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