By IANS,
Kolkata : Tata Steel Tuesday reported an increase in hot metal and crude steel production but near flat sales from its domestic operations in the April-June quarter compared with the same period last fiscal.
The company posted an 8.24 percent rise in hot metal production at 1.824 million tonne and 8.25 percent increase in crude steel production at 1.627 million tonne for the first quarter of 2010-11, the company said in a statement here.
The saleable steel production at 1.591 million tonne registered an increase of 3.17 percent.
“The first quarter sales at 1.396 million tonne were almost similar to that of the corresponding period of last year, primarily on account of weak market sentiments in commercial segment of flat products and excessive imports of hot rolled coil from China,” it said.
However, the demand from auto sector was robust and there was 20 percent increase in sales as compared to sales of the corresponding period of last year.
“The long products (used primarily in construction) sales were higher by 8 percent as compared to sales of the corresponding period of last year,” it added.