JSW Steel, on Friday, said its production rose by 45 per cent to 14

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lakh tonnes in the first quarter of this financial year on robust demand from the consuming sectors, such as automobile, construction and white goods.

In the corresponding period of the previous financial year, the company's crude steel production stood at 9.71 lakh tonnes, JSW Steel said in a statement.

Besides a spurt in demand, the steel major attributed the growth in its output to additional steel produced from its recently commissioned 2.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) blast furnace at Vijaynagar.

The production of flat-rolled products, mainly used by auto and consumer durable industry, surged by 47 per cent to 8.70 lakh tonnes in the April-June period over the year-ago period.

"The company showed a significant growth over corresponding period in the previous year in flat products even after considering the lower production of HR coils due to shutdown of hot strip mill at Vijaynagar works for 17 days for modernisation during June 2008," it said.

The production of long-rolled steel products, primarily consumed by the construction sector, increased by 103 per cent to 1.86 lakh tonnes in the quarter over the year-ago period.

JSW Steel had enhanced the capacity of its Vijaynagar plant in Karnataka to 6.8 million tonnes and plans to further augment it to nearly 10 million tonnes by the end of next year.

In view of the rising demand and expanded production line, JSW Steel is hopeful of achieving 70-72 per cent jump in production in 2009-10, company's vice-chairman and managing director Sajjan Jindal said earlier this year.