JSW Steel records 11% drop in crude steel output in April 2013

Crude steel production at India’s JSW Steel fell by 11% to 637,000 tonnes in April 2013, compared with 710,000 tonnes in April 2012, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday May 22.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

The reduced availability of quality iron ore supplies affected not only production but capacity utilisation.

During the month, production of flat rolled products was 455,000 tonnes, down by 13% from 525,000 in April 2012.

Output of long rolled products decreased by 17% to 128,000 tonnes, from 155,000 tonnes in April 2012.

“One of the blast furnaces at the Vijayanagar works was undergoing its annual shutdown for 22 days and resumed operations on April 26, [so] capacity utilisation was 73% at Vijayanagar,” the filing added.

Similarly, one of the blast furnaces at the Salem unit was also under shutdown during April 2013 and resumed production on May 6, further affecting production levels in April.