The Hindu Business Line : SAIL output touches 11 m tonnes

PUBLIC sector Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has produced the highest-ever 11 million tonnes of saleable steel and sold a record 10.8 million tonnes in domestic and overseas markets during fiscal 2003-04 showing a growth of six per cent and seven per cent respectively over the performance in fiscal 2002-03.

All-round acceleration in industrial activity, particularly in steel-consuming segments along with increasing international prices has helped the company achieve record production, according to a company release.

The company's hot metal production during the year stood at 12.9 million tonnes and crude steel output was 12.1 million tonnes. The average capacity utilisation of the four main integrated steel plants stood at 105 per cent.

The year also witnessed substantial increase in production of value-added items. These include 24 per cent increase in production of plates, five per cent increase in production of rails. Simultaneously output of CRNO (cold-rolled non-oriented) steels went up 10 per cent, galvanised products increased by 11 per cent and wire rods production increased by 6 per cent.

The company was also able to reduce the interest charges by around Rs 400 crore compared to the previous fiscal and overall debt burden declined by around Rs 4,500 crore from the previous year's 8,500 crore.

The company also reduced manpower during the years by around 5,000 through VRS and natural separations during the year. According to the company Chairman, Mr V.S. Jain, "Our real satisfaction from this year's performance comes from the fact that it is based on an impressive improvement of internal efficiencies and achievements.

"As a responsible corporate entity, we have focused our attention on meeting the requirements of customers in the domestic market and contributed our bit to stabilise the prices of steel. We are now tuned to a growth plan to provide support for faster industrial development."