Tata Tinplate to double capacity at its tinplate line by 2025

Tata Tinplate (listed as Tinplate Company India) plans to nearly double capacity at its tinplate line by 2025 following strong demand for its products.
Tinplate Company India (TCIL), a subsidiary of Tata Steel, operates a tinplate line in Jamshedpur, India. Currently, the line has a capacity of some 379,000 tonnes of tinplate and tin-free steel.
However, the company is looking to expand the line following strong demand in recent years.
Tinplate markets have seen a return to growth over the course of coronavirus pandemic. Demand for tinplate over the last decade has been negative, with traditional food and beverage markets challenged. Aluminium drinks cans, plastic-coated food cans, and plastic pouches have all replaced tinplate in these markets. However, none have the same long-life properties as tinplate, and so in times of uncertainty, canned food has seen a resurgence.
TCIL’s three-year expansion project will begin in 2022, and will see the capacity at Jamshedpur rise to 679,000 tonnes. Following this, TCIL aims to reach 1 million tonnes capacity by 2030.
Although pandemic-related demand boosts are likely fading, other trends are benefitting tinplate demand. The global aversion to plastic in recent years has seen canned food regain some market share, while the current rise in inflation is also likely to benefit the canned food industry.

With these trends in mind, combined with the recent ban of low grade tinplate imports into India, TCIL’s tinplate line expansion is well timed. Based on a global average tinplate coating weight of 0.3% Sn, TCIL currently has capacity to consume some 1,100 tonnes of tin annually. From 2025, consumption at Jamshedpur could double to 2,000 tonnes, before reaching 3,000 tonnes in 2030