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The sales turnover of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd - Visakhapatnam steel plant during 2014-15 has slumped to Rs 11,718 crore from Rs 13,489 crore during the previous fiscal.
The Chairman and Managing Director, P. Madhusudan, said here on Saturday that the sluggish market conditions and the Hudhud cyclone, which hit the city in October 2014, were mainly responsible for the poor show. "But during the current financial year (2015-16), we are hopeful of a much better show. We have set ourselves a target of Rs 18,000 crore sales turnover and production of 4.3 million tonnes of saleable steel," he said.
Elaborating on the reason for his optimism, he said the prices of raw material such as coal had slumped and the prices of iron ore were also steady. Production from the expansion units was getting stabilised. "The general situation has improved. Andhra Pradesh is embarking on the construction of a new capital at Amaravati. We are sure the offtake will improve," he said.
Record exports
He said exports during 2014-15 amounted to a record Rs 868 crore and during the current financial year, the figure would cross Rs 1,000-crore mark. "We have set up an office in Colombo and we are exploring markets in the Gulf as well," he said.
He said the present capacity of the plant was 6.3 million tonnes and it would go up to 7.3 mt after modernisation. He said RINL was in a disadvantageous position in comparison with other steel plants for want of captive iron ore mines, but the company was making all efforts to cut down on the cost of production and compete effectively in the market.
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