SAIL steps up availability of steel in domestic mkt

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) achieved best-ever Q1 performance in many areas while maintaining its thrust on production to meet the growing demand for steel in the domestic market during April-June '08.  In the month of June '08, SAIL's domestic sales stood at 1.11 million tonnes, which is 36%  higher as compared to June' 07. Total sales during Q1 went up to 2.65 million tonnes.

With thrust continuing on maximizing the production of special steel/value added items, SAIL produced a million tonnes of such products during Q-1, which is highest ever for any quarter, up by 41% over CPLY. This included 1.93 lakh tonnes of 90-UTS rails for the Indian Railways, the highest ever in any Q1.

Further improvement in key techno-economic parameters also continued with energy consumption at 6.88 giga calories per tonne of crude steel and reduction in coke rate among other parameters. Production through the energy-efficient continuous casting route crossed 2 million tonnes, which is highest ever quarterly performance,  with 121% of capacity utilisation.  Converter lining life also touched a new peak of around 7,500 blows at Bhilai Steel Plant against the earlier record of 6,316 blows.   

Sales of TMT bars and HR coils have respectively been 74% and 20% higher in June '08 as compared to June '07. The company also registered highest-ever Q1 sales of special quality steels with an overall growth of 49% over CPLY. Prestigious orders from the Indian Navy were booked for DMR-249 grade A/B plates during the period.

Implementation of SAIL's modernisation & expansion programme has commenced for major packages of IISCO Steel Plant, Salem Steel Plant and of BSL's new Cold Rolling Mill. Capital projects which got completed in Q1 include Installation of Hot Metal Desulphurisation Unit and Coke Oven Gas Holder at  Rourkela Steel Plant,  50 MW power facilities for Oxygen Plant at Bokaro Steel Plant and Coal Dust Injection in Blast Furnace-3 at Durgapur Steel Plant.

Sourced From: SAIL