Notwithstanding a continuing slowdown in steel market, Steel Authority of India limited (SAIl) has accomplished sales of 1.14 million tonnes (MT) in January 2014, up by 10 per cent compared to same month last year (SMlY), a statement issued by the Bhilai Steel Plant claimed on Monday.
The cumulative sales growth by SAIl for the April 2013-January 2014 period was a robust 8 per cent, as sales rose to 9.84 MT from 9.09 MT in the corresponding period last year (CPlY) backed by a surge of 47 per cent in its exports.
Most products in SAIl basket registered a considerable increase in sales this January, sales of flat steels rode the wave by growing by 23.5 per cent over SMlY. Cumulative sales growth for flat steels in the ten-month period over CPlY was 10.6 percent.
The upsurge in sales registered by the company has been a result of concerted efforts made by SAIl towards producing tailor-made steel to meet customer requirement. The plants and units of SAIl kept pace with this aggressive sales strategy, by increasing production of saleable steel by 4 per cent in April ‘13-Jan ‘14 period, at 10.74 MT.
Chairman, SAIl CS Verma said, “The uptrend in the first month of 2014 is a firm indicator of the times to come. We are confident of maintaining the momentum in sales growth, which will be supported by production of better and wider range of products like universal beam, wire rods and wider plates from the new state-of-the-art facilities coming up in phases.”