Kolkata, Oct 31 (IANS) After excessive rainfall in mining areas and flood at its Thailand plant, speciality steel and wire rope producer Usha Martin Monday declared a net loss of Rs.71.8 crore during the second quarter ending Sep 30, 2011 as against a Rs.32.5 crore net profit last year.
‘In the mining areas, rainfall registered in the second quarter was 1,170 mm against 530 mm in the same period of the previous year. This excessive rainfall has led to constraints on supply of captive minerals to steel and wire rope plants. We had to buy 14,000 tonnes of pellets from outside sources to keep our plants operational,’ Rajeev Jhawar, managing director of Usha Martin, said here.
The company has hired a consultant agency to chalk out means to control the excessive water that is affecting the mining process and expects a report to be submitted within two months.
The company has reported a loss of Rs.120 crore arising out of restatement of outstanding foreign currency loans and acceptances on account of depreciation of rupee against the dollar.
Flood and torrential rainfall have affected production at the Thailand plant of Usha Siam Steel, a subsidiary of Usha Martin. The plant, which has been completely shut down, had a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day.
The company has formed a disaster management group to assess the costs to restart operations.
