New Delhi: JSW Steel, the country’s largest private sector steel maker by domestic capacity, on Friday said its production rose 53% to 5.21 lakh tonnes in August on robust demand from consumers like the automobile sector, construction and white goods.

The company said crude steel production for August was the highest monthly output in the segment since inception. In the same period last year, crude steel production stood at 3.41 lakh tonnes, JSW Steel said in a statement.

The production of flat-rolled products, mainly used by auto and consumer durable industry, surged 8% to 3.02 lakh tonnes in August compared with the same period last year. JSW Steel produced 2.80 lakh tonnes of flat-rolled products in August 2008.

The production of long-rolled steel products, primarily consumed by the construction sector, increased by 159% to 74,000 tonnes in August 2009 compared with the same period a year ago, when production stood at 28,000 tonnes.

JSW Steel had earlier this year enhanced the capacity of its Vijaynagar plant in Karnataka to 6.8 million tonnes and is hopeful of achieving a 70-72% jump in output in 2009-10.