JSW Steel today reported a marginal growth of 8 per cent in its crude steel production at 20.94 lakh tonnes in October-December amid issues like shortages of iron ore continuing to affect its performance.
The company had produced 19.39 lakh tonnes (LT) crude steel in the corresponding quarter of 2011-12.
However, quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis, JSW reported a decline of nearly 3.60 per cent in its October-December production compared to the June-September quarter, when it had produced 21.72 lakh tonnes (LT) crude steel.
"The capacity utilisation was lower during the Q3 FY'13 as compared to Q2 FY'13 due to inadequate and poor quality of iron ore available through e-auction," the company said in a statement.
The Sajjan Jindal-led company had increased its production capacity to 10 million tonnes per annum at Karnataka's Vijayanagar during first half of 2011.
However, it has been struggling to run the plant at optimum capacity since then due to iron ore shortages - a key raw material for steel making.
During the last quarter, production of flat products grew by 13 per cent to 15.69 LT, up from 13.87 LT of the October-December quarter of FY'12.
Besides, long products of the company registered a growth of 31 per cent to 4.83 LT during the quarter, the company said.
Flat products are used for consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods sector, while long products are meant for the construction sector.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange, shares in JSW rose 1.9 per cent to close at Rs. 846.55 a piece on Monday.
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