New Delhi, Oct 9:Domestic steel giant Tata Steel on Friday said its consolidated steel production fell by 3.45 per cent to 7.26 million tonne (MT) in the second quarter of the current fiscal.
The company’s output in the year-ago period was at 7.52 MT, Tata Steel Ltd said in a regulatory filing.
During July-September 2020, Tata Steel India’s production stood at 4.59 MT, as against 4.50 MT in the same quarter a year ago.
In Europe, Tata Steel Europe produced 2.15 MT steel in the quarter under review, as compared to 2.45 MT in the same period of 2019-20.
Tata Steel South East Asia produced 0.52 MT of steel in July-September, as against 0.57 MT in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
The company’s consolidated sales during the quarter under review was about 12 per cent up at 7.86 MT, from 7.02 MT in the same period a year ago.
During July-September 2020, Tata Steel India’s sales stood at 5.05 MT, as against 4.13 MT in the same quarter last year. In Europe, it sold 2.26 MT of steel as compared to 2.29 MT.
In South East Asia, the company sold 0.55 MT steel in the quarter under review as against 0.60 MT in the same period previous fiscal.
During the quarter under review, the company’s business in India remained positive in terms of production as well as sales, the figures showed.
Tata Steel said, while the 4.49 MT production in India registered a 2 per cent year-on-year growth during July-September 2020, the sales at 5.05 MT were the highest ever quarterly deliveries in India.
The company further said “during Q2 FY21, global economic activity has started to recover with phased relaxations in lockdown measures, however, the pace of improvement has been varying across the geographies.
“Company continues to monitor the situation and take appropriate actions in line with the directions issued by the regulatory authorities keeping in view the health and safety of its employees and the community, and the interests of its customers and other stakeholders. We also continue to stay focused on aggressively managing costs and cash flows.”
In India, the company said, in Q2 FY21, overall “apparent steel consumption” was down by 7.5 per cent y-o-y (year-on-year) while crude steel production was down by 1.9 per cent y-o-y.
In this environment, Tata Steel India ramped up its steelmaking and downstream operations back to pre-COVID level, with all major sites operating at around full capacity utilization, it said.
In Europe, macroeconomic and steel demand recovery was more gradual, it added. (PTI)