One of the largest Indian steelmakers JSW Steel Ltd has posted a 13 percent year-on-year growth in crude steel production for February of the current Indian financial year.
JSW produced 610,000 mt of crude steel in the given month, down 24 percent compared to the previous month. In the first eleven months of the financial year, JSW's crude steel output reached 6.77 million mt, up 15 percent compared to the same period of the previous financial year.
During February, JSW Steel produced 447,000 mt of flat rolled products, up one percent, while long rolled product output doubled to 152,000 mt, both compared to the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
According to JSW, 1.17 million mt of iron ore was sold in six e-auctions in the state of Karnataka during February, while the amount of iron ore required by the steelmaking industry in Karnataka is 3 million mt per month. Lower availability of quality iron ore, apart from iron ore shortages, is impacting equipment, productivity and efficiency.