New Delhi, Sept 20: Thanks to the sharper increase in steel prices since July and an export growth of 126% in April-August ‘03-04, all plants of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) have crossed 100% capacity utilisation level to operate at 102% of capacity during first five months of the current fiscal. The public sector steel major is all set to end the first half of the current fiscal with record production and sales figures.

Continuing with the trend after achieving record profits in the last two successive quarters, SAIL achieved a record production of 4.34 million tonnes (mt) of saleable steel, a growth of 8% during the period.
Showing an all-round improvement, the company also recorded the highest ever sales of mild steel at 4.1 mt (11% growth) during April-August. SAIL’s turnover at Rs 4,765 crore had witnessed a surge of 14% during the first quarter of the current fiscal.
“SAIL’s turn around process is built on the solid foundation of an overall improvement in all the areas including techno-economic parameters.
The thrust on quality continued with the plants producing 12% more steel through energy efficient continuous cast route in the first five months of the current fiscal,” according to a company release. Bureau Report