SAIL Rourkela plate mill sets monthly production records in October

The New Plate Mill (NPM) of Steel Authority of India Limited's (SAIL) Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) achieved record production and shipment levels in October 2026, with plate shipments reaching 103,462 tons.

The mill's monthly shipments exceeded its previous record of 93,527 tons set in March 2026. Road shipments also reached a record 17,284 tons, while the mill loaded 474 trailers and 1,354 railway wagons during the month.

Improved stock movement reduced inventory from 32,116 tons on October 1 to 22,335 tons by month-end, representing a 30.5pct decline.

On the production side, the mill rolled a record 9,041 slabs during October, surpassing its previous monthly high of 8,809 slabs recorded in March 2026. Total plate output reached 93,239 tons, the highest October production level, exceeding the previous October record of 87,793 tons set in 2025.

The mill maintained an average rolling rate of 292 slabs per day and exceeded 300 slabs per day on 20 days during the month.

Commissioned in 2015, the facility is known as the New Plate Mill to distinguish it from Rourkela's original plate mill, which dates back to 1960. Supplied by Danieli, the 4.3-metre-wide mill has an annual rated capacity of around 0.9-0.98 mln tons. It produces specialized steel plates for applications including shipbuilding, boilers and pressure vessels, heavy engineering structures and defence equipment.

India's Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), inaugurated in 1959 in Odisha, is India's first public-sector integrated steel plant and a key unit of SAIL. Located in a mineral-rich region with strong rail links, it has a capacity of 4.5 mln tons per annum hot metal and 4.2 mln tons per annum crude steel, producing a range of flat products including HRC, plates, silicon steel, and pipes for the oil and gas sector.

SAIL currently produces around 20.6 mln tons of crude steel annually and is targeting an expansion to 35 mln tons per year by FY2031. The company operates five integrated steel plants and three special steel plants across India, producing a wide range of flat, long, special, and railway steel products.