JSW Steel, India's second biggest steel manufacturer, announced that its crude steel production surged 14% at 1.574 million tonnes (mt) in the three month period ended June 2010 (April-June) as against the same period of last year.

The production of flat rolled products increased 26% at 1.093 mt and production of long rolled products grew 71% to 0.309 mt in the first quarter.

The company said, ''The commissioning of 6.6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) expansion project with 3.5 mtpa new hot strip mill at Vijayanagar works in the last financial year enabled the company to achieve higher production.''

At present, the company's facilities in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu together create 7.8 million tonnes a year.

With steel plants coming up in West Bengal and Jharkhand, the company targets to achieve a capacity 32 million tonnes by the next ten years.

JSW Steel, part of the 8-billion dollar O P Jindal Group, runs 174 'JSW Shoppe', an exclusive retail steel outlet, which has on display and sale all the company's products, ranging from hot-rolled to colour-coated steels and long products.

The company plans to open 600 retail outlets by the next two years. (With Inputs from Agencies)