| Faced with a shortage of coking coal, leading steelmakers like SAIL and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd have cut production during this quarter. |
| The steel makers have, however, said that they would make up for the lower production during the April-June quarter with higher sales during the remaining three quarters of the financial year. |
| A SAIL spokesperson said the company has rationalised production upto 15 per cent during the last one and half months following lower coal supply. |
| "There is constraint in supply. But, we are taking this chance to do capital repair jobs at our plants," he said. The company has also supplied 90,000 tonnes of steel during April, about 18 per cent more than last year, to tide over any shortage of steel in the domestic market due to the production cut. |
| According to him, SAIL would be able to produce about 11.2 million tonnes of steel during this financial year. "We are under strain. We are also trying to use new technology like coal dusting and use more sponge iron to reduce the dependence on coal," the spokesperson said. |
| Vinod Garg, executive director (marketing), Ispat Industries, said the company uses metalurgical coke to make steel. According to him, there was a shortage of metcoke due to higher demand in China, which supplies majority of the coke to India. but, he added that the company would not cut production as it has managed its supplies. |
| Ispat has reduced usage of coke by 10 per cent through measures like oil injection. he said the company was expected to produce 2.4-25 million tonnes during 2004-05 against 1.6 million tonnes last year. |
| Meanwhile, public sector coal companies, Bharat Coking Coal Ltd and Coal India Ltd, have held a presentation before the finance ministry in April on the impending shortage in coking coal stock in the country. |
| The companies have outlined the bleak international supply scenario and have asked for support from the finance ministry. |
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