Pakistan Steel has revised its production target for November to 50 per cent from 60pc set by the government.
“With the blast furnace (BF) no 1 in operation, the mills can only achieve production capacity of 45pc in the current month. Production target could have been achieved, had the blast furnace-2 been operational as well. We cannot put load on the blast furnace one to achieve the target,” said an official of the mill.
The official said the target could not be achieved due to multiple reasons since April 2014. The mills received Rs4.2bn under bailout package in May end instead of April, causing delay in placing orders for raw material import.
By June end, raw material arrived but the mills could not run due to severe water crisis in 15 to 20 days of July. In August, blast furnace one stopped working and again it became non-operational from Oct 9 to Nov 6.