Tata Steel output surges up to 27 pct in Nov

Tata Steel Ltd. | Steel & Iron Products | Metals & Mining | BSE: 500470 | NSE: TATASTEEL

08 Dec 2008 Evaluate

Even as major steel producers have resorted to production cuts due to slump in demand, Tata Steel’s output grew by up to 27 per cent in November. The company's hot metal production surged to 5.78 lakh tonnes, a 26.8 per cent growth over corresponding month of the last fiscal. The crude steel output stood at 5.14 lakh tonnes, up 23 per cent from 4.18 lakh tonnes in November last fiscal.

Its blast furnaces and steel melting shops recorded their best ever production during November, even surpassing the previous best, which was in October. However, due to planned shutdown of the hot strip mill for upgradation, the production of company's salable steel declined by 3.6 per cent to 4.07 lakh tonnes.

Owing to slackening demand for steel in the midst of the global economic slowdown, leading steel producers like Ispat, Essar and JSW have cut their productions by up to 30 per cent. Country's largest steel producer SAIL too has re-oriented its products mix on the basis of the market demand.

As waning demand continues to hit their bottomlines, most of the major steel producers have also decided to temporarily apply brakes on their mega greenfield projects. A couple of days back, Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman said the company will accord higher priority to 'high return' projects like Jamshedpur and Orissa while defer the ones proposed in Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh. crack crack