By IANS,
Raipur : Production at the public sector Bhilai Steel Plant dipped in the 2011-12 fiscal from the previous financial year, the management said Tuesday, blaming the aging coke oven batteries for the fall.
“The health of some aging coke oven batteries posed a big challenge from early on in the year, affecting coke production and gas availability for the reheating furnaces of the mills,” it said in a statement.
The flagship unit of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL)
located in Durg district, some 30 km west of Chhattisgarh capital Raipur, produced 5.13 million tonnes (MT) of hot metal, 4.90 MT of crude steel and 4.29 MT of saleable steel in the just ended financial year.
The plant had in fiscal 2010-11 had posted a record production of 5.71 MT of hot metal, 5.33 MT crude steel and 4.57 MT of saleable steel. It was expected that the plant would further consolidate its production in year 2011-12 but the production dipped.