SAIL posts 10% sales growth in January 2014

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has posted 8 per cent sales growth in April 2013 -January 2014 compared to last year even in the face of a slowdown in the steel market. SAIL's cumulative sales went up to 9.84 MT from 9.09 MT in April 2013-January 2014 over the corresponding period last year.

In January 2014, SAIL reported a 10 per cent rise in steel sales to 1.14 million tonnes (MT) , compared to same period last year, led by a 47 per cent surge in exports.

While the company reported sales growth in all products in its basket during January 2014, sales of flat steels, which are used in consumer durables, topped the list, growing by 23.5 per cent over January 2013. SAIL said its cumulative sales growth for flat steels in the ten-month period was 10.6 per cent over the same period last year.

SAIL said the upsurge in sales registered by the company has been a result of concerted efforts made towards producing tailor-made steel to meet customer requirement.

The various plants and units of SAIL kept pace with this aggressive sales strategy, by increasing production of saleable steel by 4 per cent in April'13-Jan'14 period, at 10.74 MT.

Commenting on the sales performance, SAIL chairman CS Verma said: "We are confident of maintaining the momentum in sales growth, which will be supported by production of better and wider range of products like universal beam, wire rods and wider plates from the new state-of-the-art facilities coming up in phases."