The Business Bytes
THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU
ROURKELA, APRIL 5, 2025
Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) concluded the financial year 2024-25 with remarkable achievements across key production areas and techno-economic parameters. Despite operating with just two active Blast Furnaces and making strategic decisions to shut down economically unviable units such as Hot Strip Mill-1 and Cold Rolling Mill, the plant surpassed the 4 Million Ton (MT) production mark in Hot Metal, Crude Steel, and Saleable Steel.
Blast Furnace-1 and Blast Furnace-5 delivered outstanding performances, producing 1,004,736 tons and 3,132,316 tons of Hot Metal, respectively, marking their best-ever outputs since inception. Blast Furnace-5 achieved an impressive capacity utilization rate of 113%, with a productivity of 2.57 Tons per cubic metre per day (T/m³/day) during FY’25.
In terms of sinter production, Sinter Plant-3 reached a record-breaking output of 3,720,991 tons, surpassing its previous best of 3,710,758 tons set in 2021-22. Similarly, Caster-3 of Steel Melting Shop-2 produced a record 1,633,774 tons of slabs, exceeding its previous record of 1,628,366 tons achieved in FY’24. Hot Strip Mill-2 (HSM-2) also played a pivotal role, rolling a record 2,622,704 tons of slabs and producing 2,556,717 tons of Hot Rolled (HR) Coils — surpassing its earlier best of 2,375,457 tons in FY’24.
The New Plate Mill achieved an all-time high by rolling 1,037,456 tons of slabs and producing a record 931,919 tons of plates. Furthermore, RSP maintained its focus on safety, achieving zero fatality days throughout the fiscal year.
On the techno-economic front, RSP achieved its best-ever performance in several key areas. Specific Energy Consumption was recorded at 5.92 Giga Calories per tonne of crude steel, while Specific Water Consumption stood at 2.98 cubic meters per tonne of crude steel. Both Blast Furnaces achieved the highest shop productivity rate of 2.31 T/m³/day in FY’25, surpassing the previous best of 2.07 T/m³/day in FY’16-17. Additionally, the furnaces set a new benchmark with the lowest Coke Rate of 391 kg per ton of Hot Metal, outperforming the previous best of 415 kg from the prior fiscal year. The best-ever Coal to Hot Metal ratio of 0.896 was also achieved.
RSP’s exceptional performance was further highlighted by several national records set by individual departments. Notable achievements include the Torpedo Ladle’s record campaign life of 3,009 heats, achieved in July 2024, and the highest-ever long sequence of 394 heats at Caster #3.
RSP Director In-Charge, Alok Verma, expressed his congratulations to the entire team for their outstanding performance, saying, “As we enter the new fiscal year, we do so with renewed confidence and determination, despite ongoing market challenges. Our focus will remain on driving consistent, incremental improvements across operations to meet and exceed our targets for the upcoming fiscal year.”
