Team News Riveting
Bhilai, March 05
The SAIL-Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) has created new production milestones across major operational segments during the April 2025 to February 2026 period of the current financial year 2025–26, registering its best-ever cumulative April–February performance in several key parameters.
During this period, Blast Furnace–8 produced 26,00,252 tonnes of Hot Metal, surpassing its previous best of 25,43,397 tonnes recorded in the corresponding period of FY 2024–25. The Plant’s total Hot Metal production stood at 54,81,796 tonnes, exceeding the earlier record of 54,40,432 tonnes achieved during the same period of FY 2023–24. In the area of raw material preparation, total Sinter production reached 80,46,038 tonnes, bettering the previous record of 79,56,681 tonnes registered in FY 2023–24.
The Plant recorded total Crude Steel production of 52,41,982 tonnes during April–February FY 2025–26, surpassing the earlier record of 51,52,780 tonnes achieved in FY 2023–24. Saleable Steel production reached 49,38,920 tonnes, exceeding the previous best of 47,63,240 tonnes recorded in FY 2023–24. The collective performance of all Finishing Mills resulted in total Finished Steel production of 43,81,903 tonnes, improving upon the 42,84,351 tonnes achieved in FY 2024–25.
The Modex unit’s Steel Melting Shop-3 (SMS-3) registered record performances in multiple parameters during the period. It achieved Cast Steel production of 32,79,819 tonnes, surpassing the previous best of 32,47,324 tonnes recorded in FY 2024–25. Bloom production reached 10,95,421 tonnes against the earlier record of 10,76,513 tonnes.
Billet production stood at 21,84,398 tonnes, higher than the previous best of 21,70,811 tonnes recorded in FY 2024–25. SMS-3 supplies billets to the Bar & Rod Mill, Merchant Mill and Wire Rod Mill for rolling TMT and structural products, while blooms are dispatched to the Universal Rail Mill for rolling world-class rails.
The Bar & Rod Mill registered record production of 9,61,363 tonnes, surpassing its earlier best of 9,19,914 tonnes achieved in FY 2024–25. The Plate Mill also created a new benchmark in HT Plate production by producing 2,56,555 tonnes, exceeding the previous record of 2,29,375 tonnes recorded in FY 2023–24. The Ore Handling Plant recorded an exceptional performance, handling 2,19,78,114 tonnes of material during April 2025–February 2026, a significant improvement over the earlier record of 97,54,947 tonnes achieved in FY 2024–25.
In rail production, the Plant registered a landmark achievement in Prime Rail output by producing 11,98,122 tonnes during April–February FY 2025–26, surpassing the previous best of 11,65,210 tonnes recorded in FY 2019–20. The Rail & Structural Mill increased Long Rail production to 1,65,364 tonnes, higher than the 1,52,806 tonnes produced during the same period of FY 2023–24. The Universal Rail Mill (URM) of the Modex unit achieved 8,67,981 tonnes of Finished Rails, 8,33,419 tonnes of Prime Rails and 8,02,228 tonnes of Long Rails during the period, surpassing the respective earlier records of 8,14,809 tonnes and 7,73,866 tonnes recorded in FY 2024–25 and 7,40,530 tonnes of Long Rails recorded in FY 2023–24. Total Long Rail production during the period stood at 9,67,592 tonnes.
The Plant also recorded its best-ever performance in rail dispatch and loading. The Rail & Structural Mill achieved Long Rail loading of 1,63,726 tonnes, exceeding 1,53,007 tonnes recorded in FY 2023–24, while the Universal Rail Mill registered 8,26,962 tonnes of Long Rail loading, surpassing 7,59,805 tonnes achieved earlier. Total Long Rail loading reached 9,90,688 tonnes, better than the previous best of 9,12,812 tonnes recorded in FY 2023–24. In addition, total rail loading for Indian Railways stood at 11,52,142 tonnes, exceeding the previous best of 11,24,363 tonnes recorded in FY 2019–20. Saleable Steel loading also improved significantly to 49,52,615 tonnes, surpassing 47,29,969 tonnes recorded in FY 2023–24.
Alongside production growth, the Plant demonstrated superior techno-economic performance. The Blast Furnaces achieved a coke rate of 426 kg per tonne of Hot Metal, improving upon the 432 kg per tonne of Hot Metal recorded in FY 2024–25. Productivity of Blast Furnaces (BF 1–8) improved to 2.03 tonnes per cubic metre per day, compared to 1.91 tonnes per cubic metre per day achieved in FY 2024–25.
