JSW steel production up 25% in May

Flat product output up 31% to 5.12 lakh tonne, long product up 27% to 1.49 lakh tonne vs year ago

JSW Steel's production in May this year grew by 25% to 7.24 lakh tonnes over the same month a year earlier.

The Mumbai-based company had produced 5.77 lakh tonnes of crude steel in May, 2011.

Besides, its flat product output grew by 31% to 5.12 lakh tonnes and long product by 27% to 1.49 lakh tonnes during the month over May last year, JSW Steel said in a statement.

Flat products are used for consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods sector, while long products are meant for the construction sector.

"The capacity utilisation at Vijaynagar works remained at around 80% in May, 2012 due to constraints in availability of iron ore in Karnataka," JSW said.

The company operates a 10 million tonnes steel plant at Karnataka's Vijaynagar and a 1 million tonnes capacity at Salem in Tamil Nadu.

For the current fiscal, the Sajjan Jindal-led company has kept a target of producing 8.75 million tonnes of crude steel, while its production in the last fiscal was 7.43 million tonnes.

Shares of the company were being quoted at Rs 641.25 apiece on the BSE at 1410 hrs, up 0.39% from the previous close.