Tata Steel has reported that its sales in the March quarter was down 15 per cent at 4.03 million tonnes (mt), against 4.72 mt in the same period last year, due to depressed demand.

However, its steel output rose 6 per cent to 4.74 mt (4.48 mt).

As the pandemicspreads across the world, many countries have been taking actions to restrict the movement of people and industrial activities.

As steel is considered an essential and continuous process industry, it has been exempted from the nationwide lockdown in India. However, the lockdown has led to logistics issues and lower demand, driven by the shutdown of customer operations in automotive, construction and other segments, said the company.

Tata Steel’s annual branded products and retail sales rose 8 per cent. It also increased the share of high-end sales to 25 per cent this fiscal, against 19 per cent registered in FY19.

The company is operating integrated steelmaking facilities at lower utilisation levels while operations at the downstream facilities have been suspended and put on care and maintenance mode, said a statement.

Sales in Europe fell 8 per cent to 2.37 mt (2.57 mt) while output dipped 6 per cent to 2.56 mt (2.73 mt).

Despite macro headwinds, Tata Steel Europe was able to keep production and sales high compared to the December quarter, the statement added. The utilisation levels are currently about 70 per cent and dispatches are continuing in both the UK and the Netherlands, it said.

While the company is focussed on conserving cash and ensuring adequate liquidity, it continues to monitor the situation closely and has taken several initiatives to ensure that the operations are in a state of readiness to ramp up as the situation improves and normalcy is restored, it said.

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