Tata Steel produces record hot metal, crude steel in FY14

Tata Steel in 2013-14 has achieved a record production of Hot Metal and Crude Steel as well as saleable steel, a senior official of the company said today.
The Hot Metal and Crude Steel production of 9.90 million tonnes (MT), up 11.74 per cent year-on-year and 9.15 MT, up 12.55 per cent yoy, respectively, Tata Steel Managing Director T V Narendran said.
The company had produced 8.86 MT hot metal and 8.13 MT crude steel in FY13, he said.
Talking to reporters here on the company's performance in FY14, Narendran said on the backdrop of challenging market, Tata Steel has registered a 12.72 per cent increase in saleable steel production at 8.95 MT against 7.94 MT.

Narendran said the company has set a target to produce 10.55 MT (up by 6.56 per cent) of hot metal, 9.75 MT crude steel (up by 6.56 per cent) and saleable steel by 9.46 MT (up by 5.70 per cent) in FY'15.
He said all necessary clearances have been procured to achieve the target, which would be maximum capacity of the company at its Jamshedpur facility.

He also said that the demand for steel as well as its consumption was likely to grow by 1.2 to 1.3 percent of the GDP, which was forecast to grow by 5 to 6 per cent.

Asked whether the steel sector would grow if a new government comes to power after the Lok Sabha elections, Narendran said that the new government must invest in the infrastructure sector which would help grow the demand of steel as well as its consumption.
Asked whether the company has shelved the proposed Jharkhand project, Narendran said the company's focus is now on its Kalinganagar project in Odisha, which was likely to be commissioned in the last quarter of 2015.