Tata Steel production up 4% in first half

Tata Steel has registered a four per cent increase in its salable steel production at 2.09 million tonne for the first half of the current financial year, compared with a production of two million tonne in the corresponding previous period.

The company registered an all-time high production in hot metal, crude steel and salable steel. The company's supplies to the automobile sector, which included hot-rolled coil, cold-rolled coils and galvanised products, were up by 41 per cent, against that in the previous year.

The company also recorded a 24 per cent increase in steel supplies to original equipment manufacturers.

Tata Steel's premium brands "" Tata Shakti (corrugated galvanised sheets) and Tata Steelium (cold-rolled sheets) "" also reported an increase in sales of 16 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.

Tata Steel is in the process of increasing its capacity by one million tonne at an estimated investment of Rs 2,000 crore. The company has targetted March 2005 for the completion of the expansion project, which will take its rated capacity to five million tonne per annum.

In a statement, the company said, "The g-blast furnace due for rebuilding was to go down in the middle of October 2004 for upgradation of its capacity from 1.2 million tonne per annum to 1.8 million tonne per annum. However, the condition of the blast furnace was critically reviewed in July and certain steps were taken to prolong its life. It has now been decided to shutdown the furnace sometime in early December 2004."

The company added that the upgradation of the blast furnace will take 100 days as against 105 days taken for the same activity in 2002, for the relatively smaller f-blast furnace.