SAIL to cut down steel production

Rourkela: State-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is likely to cut down production from its steel unit here as demand for the metal in the global market has considerably reduced.

Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), a giant unit and the first steel plant in the country, has been forced to reduce its normal production. Its sale position of saleable steel has started declining from October 2008, thus piling up its stock position.

RSP had sold about nine lakh tonnes of salebale steel (average 1.40 lakh tonnes per month) during first-half of the current financial year, against its annual target of about 17 lakh tonnes and gained net profit of Rs 800 crore till September 2008.

But due to declining demand of steel in the global market, RSP could manage to sell only about 90,000 tonnes of saleable steel during October 2008, sources in the steel plant said.

For November 2008, the order received by the plant was only 40,000 tonnes against its average of 1.40 lakh tonnes, the officials said.