Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) produced 16.2mn mt of crude steel during FY2020, which ended March 31, 2020, the highest among Indian steel producers during the period.
SAIL’s crude steel production marginally declined by 0.92pc from 16.3mn mt during FY2019
According to the World Steel Association (worldsteel), India comprised 5.9pc of the worlds crude steel production in 2019 at 111.2mn mt. While time periods are slightly different, given the fiscal and calendar date information, SAIL comprised comprised 15pc of India’s total crude steel production in 2019.
Shri Anil Kumar Chaudhary, SAIL’s chairman, noted the company led all Indian steel producers in new production units and modernization of older units, and added that it will easily meet steel demand once COVID-19 restrictions are eased. Crude steel production fell short of the 21pc increase the company targeted in FY2020, which would have brought output to 19.72mn mt.
During the FY2020, SAIL increased sales by 2.8pc to 14.5mn mt from a year earlier. The company’s strategies to diversity its market portfolio also yielded record export volume of 1.18mn mt in FY2020, increasing by 54pc from last year. SAIL focused on developing and introducing a wider range of valued-added and market-oriented products, including higher quality TMT bars, and increasing the share of products available to the export markets. In the first year of launch itself, around 2 lakh mt (200,000mt) of branded SAIL SeQR TMT was sold.
Not only did SAIL’s sales grow by 26pc in Q3 FY2020, they rose during November, December, and January 2020 by 36pc, 47pc, and 35pc, respectively, compared to the same months during the company’s previous fiscal year.
SAIL recorded the highest dispatch of 12,994 WAG9 Wheels for electric locomotives and supplied 7,295mt of DMR plates to critical defense projects—the highest volume in the past 5 years. SAIL also recorded its highest-ever rail production of 12.85 Lakh mt (1.285mn mt) of UTS 90 prime rails in FY2020, rising by 30pc compared to the same period last year. Compared to its previous fiscal, the company also had 52pc growth in production of 260 metres rails, a part of the UTS 90 prime rails productions for the Indian Railways.