Tata Steel crosses 5 million tonne output

Tata Steel has stepped into its centenary year, surpassing its previous best production figures.

It produced 5.5 million tonne hot metal, 5.05 crude steel and 4.93 million tonne saleable steel. The crude steel production crossed the five million tonne mark for the first time. The production of rebars at Jamshedpur Works almost reached the million tonne mark, while the production of rebars in the company's South East Asian plants was 1.7 million tonne.

The two newly acquired mills in Vietnam would push up the capacity by 0.4 million tonne. The cold rolling mill crossed the 1.5 million tonne milestone for the first time as against its rated capacity of 1.2 million tonne.

The company claims that it was a record-breaking year for both the flat and long products. Flat products achieved the highest ever sales to the automotive segment at 0.85 million tonne, up by 28 per cent as against last year's sales of 0.67 million tonne.

The domestic sale of long products, at 1.3 million tonne was 27 per cent higher than the figure of last year, while the industry growth rate in India was around eight per cent.

The turnover of branded products was Rs 4,479 crore, up by 17 per cent as compared to the previous year. The production in the raw materials division also went up, keeping pace with the increasing demand of Tata Steel and its Indian subsidiaries.

The West Bokaro division dispatched 1.9 million tonne of clean coal at 13 per cent ash for the first time.

The company recorded its best annual production in all profit centers, Ferro Alloys & Mineral Division (FAMD), Tubes, Rings & Agrico, Bearings, Tata Growth Shop and Wire division.

The tubes division increased its annual production by 16 per cent, while the bearings division produced over 30 million bearings in the current fiscal as compared to 28 million in the previous year.

The agrico division marketed 6.7 million agricultural tools, which represent an increase of 16 per cent.

The gross turnover of Tata Growth Shop crossed the Rs 300 crore mark for the first time. The Ferro Alloys & Minerals division consolidated its position in the ferro-chrome business with the acquisition of Rawmet in Orissa, a high carbon ferro"�chrome plant with an annual capacity of 50,000 tonne per annum.