JSW announces massive production cut due to iron ore shortage

New Delhi: JSW Steel has gone for a massive production cut to 30 per cent of capacity at its Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka "due to abrupt stoppage of iron ore".

"JSW Steel has been compelled to scale down its production to 30 per cent from Saturday, after the apex court's order directing to sell iron ore produced by NMDC through e-auction by the monitoring committee irrespective of long term contracts," the company said in a statement.

"The abrupt disruption of supplies to JSW Steel (long term customer) by NMDC cut the lifeline to run the furnaces in safe condition," it added.

[caption id="attachment_93070" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="JSW has announced cuts in iron ore production. Reuters"][/caption]

The Vijayanagar plant has a capacity to produce 10 million tonnes of steel per annum.

The move comes following an apex court order last Friday which said that even supplies of iron ore by state-run NMDC from its mines in Karnataka will be done through e-auction route only.

More from Economy

The apex court order had further said that e-auction will be done for NMDC's iron ore, irrespective of the long-term supplies agreement it has entered into with various steel units in the state.

PTI