New Delhi:: Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) witnessed a good start to the second quarter of the current financial year 2016-17 by achieving a 15% growth in its total sales including exports, for the month of July’16 compared to the same month last year (SMLY). Despite onset of lean season on account of monsoon, Company’s domestic sales crossed 1 million tonnes of saleable steel which is an increase of 8.5% over SMLY. Across all product categories, the long products performed the best with a 17% growth and special steels at 4% growth in sales compared to July’15.
On the production front, the July’16 performance witnessed improved production of 1.16 MT of saleable steel which was a 13% growth over SMLY. The Techno-economic parameters also registered improvement over July’15 with 11% improvement in BF (blast furnace) productivity and 4% in Coke rate. The ramping up of new mills contributed to the enhanced production resulting in higher sales through supply of improved products to the market.
SAIL Chairman Mr PK Singh attributed the growth in sales to the company’s continuous endeavor towards its strengthening customer centric processes. He said, “we are striving to produce higher Net Sales Realization (NSR) products through ramping up our new facilities and completing the balance modernization projects. At the same time, we are exploring new markets, both domestic and overseas. The company continues to focus on cost reduction initiatives and we hope to serve the market better with our enriched product basket.”