SAIL Hits Record Steel Production, Energy Efficiency in May

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--There was some upbeat news for the Indian steel industry when the Steel Authority of India (BSE:500113) (SAIL) (New Delhi, India) announced that it had achieved its best-ever May production figures in the production of saleable steel last month.

The state-controlled company saw a year-over-year (YoY) growth of 11%, reaching a total production of 1.09 million tons of saleable steel for the month. Production of crude steel also was the best ever at 1.15 million tons, compared with the previous best monthly total of 1.14 million tons.

The good news for May continued a sustained focus on the improvement of key techno-economic parameters, resulting in a 3% reduction of energy consumption YoY to 6.57 giga-calories per ton of crude steel produced. Power generation and blast furnace productivity improved 8% and 5%, respectively. By employing energy-efficient continuous casting, production topped 800,000 tons, which was another record total for May. Value-added and special steel production from Integrated Steel Plants (ISP) went up about 8% YoY.

C.S. Verma, the chairman of SAIL, noted the continuing upbeat mood in the company, with the prospect of adding more than 5 million tons of hot metal capacity in the current financial year. This additional capacity will raise the total production for the year to more than 19 million tons, from the present level of 14 million tons. The chairman expressed confidence in higher growth of steel consumption in the country in the coming months, on account of the inherent strengths of the India economy.

For related information, see March 5, 2013, article - Steel Authority of India Targets 24 Million Ton Annual Capacity.

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