Essar Steel's finished steel production goes up 35% in Q1

NEW DELHI: Essar Steel's finished steel production went up 35.44% in the first quarter with the company producing 1.07 million tonne of flat steel products in April-June quarter of financial year 2011-12 against 0.79 million tonne in the previous corresponding quarter.

During the quarter under review, Essar Steel also saw a 40.74% jump in crude steel production to 1.14 million tonne in April-June 2011, up from 0.81 million tonne in previous corresponding quarter.

Essar, which is close to completing expansion in steel making capacity at Hazira to 10 million tonne per annum (mtpa) said, as part of its expansion, the company has started production at two iron making units. This includes a blast furnace with a capacity of 1.73 million tonnes, now under stabilization, a direct reduced iron ( DRI) unit of 1.74 million tonnes, a conarc furnace of 2.5 million tonnes, a continuous caster of 1.45 million tonnes and a CSP mill of 3.5 mtpa.

In a statement issed on Tuesday the company also said it has recently inaugurated a 5-metre wide plate mill with a capacity of 1.5 mtpa which is also under stabilization.