Steel Authority of India ltd (SAIl) concerted efforts on increasing export shares have started to bear fruits. In the month of February SAIl has achieved the best ever export monthly volume of steel in last ten years. A total of 1.03 lakh tonnes of steel was exported last month, which includes the first time shipment of CE marked plates from the New Plate Mill of SAIl's Rourkela Steel Plant to Europe. The new 4.3 metre wide Plate Mill with initial capacity of 1.0 MT can be augmented to 1.8 MT and is equipped with state-of-art technology which can produce wide range of plates with close dimensional tolerance, perfect flatness and surface finish to meet stringent international standards.
The other products which contribute to this record exports include wire rods, hot rolled coil, billets and slabs. During the current financial year 2016-17 SAIl has already exported 6.82 lakh tonnes. The company aims at exporting 10 per cent of its total production and at doubling the volumes for next fiscal in FY 17-18 which will happen after tripling export volumes during the current fiscal. SAIl plans to soon diversify its exports basket with cold rolled and galvanized products from New Cold Rolling Mill at Bokaro, structural's from New Universals Section Mill at Burnpur and Medium Structural Mill at Durgapur. Through the enriched product offering the Company aims to consolidate its presence not only in South East Asian market but also in Europe.