Crude steel output grows over 4 pc to 8.91 MT in February

The country's crude steel output grew over 4 per cent to 8.91 million tonne (MT) in February as compared with the year-ago month, according to official data.

The domestic crude steel production had stood at 8.54 MT during February 2018, according to a report by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC), which comes under the Ministry of Steel.

"Crude steel production stood at 8.914 MT in February 2019, up by 4.3 per cent over February 2018, and was down by 2.9 per cent over January 2019," the report said.

State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd along with private firms Tata Steel Ltd, Essar Steel, JSW Steel, and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd produced 5.40 MT and the remaining 3.50 MT came from the other producers, it added.

During February this year, the production of hot metal was 12.1 per cent higher at 6.09 MT, against 5.43 MT in February 2018.

"Hot metal production in February 2019 was up by 12.1 per cent over February 2018 and was down by 4.4 per cent over January 2019," the report said.

The output of pig iron grew 16.9 per cent to nearly 5,26,000 tonne in February, compared with about 4,50,000 tonne in the same month a year ago.

"Pig iron production stood at 0.526 MT in February 2019, up by 16.9 per cent over February 2018 and was down by 1.9 per cent over January 2019," it added.

The JPC is the only institution in the country that collects data on the domestic iron and steel sector.

India has set an ambitious target of increasing its crude steel production capacity to 300 million tonne by 2030-31.