RSP Q-I PERFORMANCE SHOWS GROWTH

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Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) of the Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), a public sector unit of the Steel Ministry which achieved double digit growth in production performance during the last two financial years, continued to go ahead steadily during the first quarter of the current fiscal. The production performance in sinter, hot metal, continuous cast slabs from CCM-I and CCM-II, continuous cast slabs (total), total crude steel, total slab rolling for plate mill and hot strip mill, CRNO from Silicon Steel Mill during the quarter has been best Q-I production since inception.

The contribution of all finishing units have been significant in the steel plant's best ever Q-I performance in saleable steel (total). Total slab rolling plate mill and hot strip mill registered a 4.5 per cent growth over the first quarter of last year, while growth in production of SW pipes and ERW pipes was a phenomenal 351 per cent and 131 per cent respectively. Plates from plate mill registered a growth of nearly 43 per cent, tin plates 15 per cent and CRNO 7 per cent as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

RSP has been striving to improve its profitability by enhancing the proportion of high-value added products in its saleable steel basket. These items like SW and ERW pipes, CRNO steel, CR sheets/coils, plates from Plate Mill, HR plates, Galvanised Sheets and Tin Plates now constitute 55 per cent of total saleable steel against 45 per cent the earlier years.