The government wants Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to further extend its reach in the international market presence by offering more value-added steel products in emerging economies.
The piece of advice was given by Steel Secretary G. Mohan Kumar yesterday, during a review of the performance of the state-run steel producer at its central marketing organisation (CMO) headquarters in Kolkata.
Mr. Kumar said that the steel giant should "further widen its international presence and reach value-added steels to newly emerging markets" across the globe.
Mr. Kumar's advice comes a few days after a parliamentary committee asked SAIL to take steps to strengthen its international presence.
During the recently concluded financial year (FY2013-14), SAIL achieved sales growth of 7 per cent in domestic sales to 12.1 million tonnes, as against 11.3 million tones in the previous financial year. SAIL-central marketing organisation (CMO) said in a statement that sales of flat and long steel products grew 9 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.
Focus on sales of value-added steel products during the last financial year enabled the company to market 2.2 lakh tonnes of special steels, which included one lakh tonnes of stainless steel. In the FY2014-15, SAIL-CMO's product basket will be enriched with high-quality wire rods and auto-grade cold-rolled steel, which will be produced by the company's brand new mills at its IISCO and Bokaro Steel Plants.
The public-sector steel giant's ongoing Rs 72,000 crore modernization & expansion plan will increase its hot metal capacity from 14.23 million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 23.46 MTPA.
Source: Top News