Indian-origin metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta-owned Liberty Steel will ramp up the capacity of its Rotherham mill in the UK besides increasing the product mix to meet the future demand of steel products, the company said on Monday.

Liberty Steel is part of Gupta”s diversified business house Liberty Group.

The company acquired the Rotherham steel mill from Tata Steel three years ago when the business was producing just 225,000 tonne steel per annum.

Liberty Steel will further boost production at Rotherham to over 1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) through investments to expand its product mix and making more productive use of its rolling mills to target attractive market segments, a company statement said.

The expansion would be part of its ”GREENSTEEL Initiative” which aims at reducing carbon footprint by producing steel via electric arc furnace route using scrap, it said.        

Liberty Steel Group Executive Chairman, Sanjeev Gupta said: “It has been three years since we acquired the business from Tata Steel and expanded steelmaking at Rotherham under our GREENSTEEL vision for the UK.”

“Since then we”ve made vital upgrades to the plant, doubling production, and returned the business to profitability before it was affected by a Brexit impacted weak steel market in 2019 which has been followed by the COVID-19 pandemic.