Tata Steel expects 25% jump in sales in FY'10

Riding high on robust demand from auto and construction sectors, Tata Steel expects its sales volume from Indian operations to surge by 25 per cent in the current fiscal.

"...I expect Tata Steel Indian operations to sell about 25 per cent more than what we did last year," Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman said.

In 2008-09, Tata Steel's saleable steel output had grown by 11 per cent to 5.37 million tonnes from 4.85 million tonnes. Its crude steel production too had gone up by 13 per cent to 5.64 million tonnes as against 5.01 million tonnes.

Tata Steel had added a new capacity in long products in the second half of 2008 which it expects would help the firm in tapping the growing demand.

Pointing out that India is a "shining star" in the gloomy global scenario, he said the country would buck the global trend to witness a 6-7 per cent growth rate in steel production and demand in 2009-10.

Moreover, Muthuraman said the domestic steel prices are a notch higher than the rates in the global market due to the prevailing demand from the infrastructure and the auto sector.

"...The Indian demand is in a better situation than the rest of the world. The Indian prices are marginally higher than the most parts of the world," Muthuraman said.

Moreover, he added that the global steel industry may see improvement in its margins on account of decline in prices of key raw materials like iron ore and coking coal.

"...I do expect the steel industry's margins to improve once the current inventory of raw material are consumed but this will take about 3-4 months more," he said, adding that with this Tata Steel's UK subsidiary Corus may also see its input cost pressure easing.