Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) said it had achieved the highest ever first quarterly production of saleable steel at 3.2 million tonnes (mt) in April-June, up by six per cent over corresponding period last year.

In the first three months of 2013-14, the public sector steel major registered good growth in various production and techno-economic parameters. Production of value-added steel touched the best ever first quarter mark, at 1.28 MT, the company said. This is four per cent more than the first quarter of 2012-13.

Efficiency of production also got a boost with specific energy consumption at 6.57 giga calorie cal a tonne of crude steel, which is lower by one per cent. Blast furnace productivity improved by two per cent, it said.

A new coke oven battery No 6 was commissioned at its Rourkela plant on June 1. The new battery complex, built at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore, has an annual capacity of 0.768 mt. 

Other projects which have started production include the new sinter plant and coke oven in Rourkela, an air separation unit of an oxygen plant at Bhilai, a raw material handling plant, a coke oven, a sinter plant and wire rod mill and RHF at IISCO steel plant.

New projects worth around Rs 2,700 crore commenced production in this period.

Significant among these are the new seven-mt-tall battery complex along with coke dry cooling plant and the 2,500-mm-wide slab caster, both at RSP. With several other projects on the anvil, the annual production capacity of hot metal is expected to grow to 19 mt by next fiscal from the current level of 14 mt.

shishir.sinha@thehindu.co.in

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