Tata Steel’s sales in India hit a record high in October-December 2023

Indian steelmaker Tata Steel has reported record high volumes of shipments in the country in the third quarter of fiscal year 2023/2024 (October-December 2023) at 4.88 million tons. This is stated in the company’s report.

Tata Steel India achieved such results mainly due to an increase in supplies to the domestic market, which grew by 10% year-on-year and 3% q/q, indicating strong demand for steel in the country.

As Tata Steel reported, its Indian operations increased steel production by 6.4% y/y and 5.32 million tons quarter-on-quarter.

Deliveries in the automotive and specialty products segment in October-December increased by about 22% y/y, branded products and retail segment increased by 11% y/y, and deliveries of industrial products and project segment increased by almost 6% y/y.

Tata Steel’s businesses in the Netherlands recorded a drop in sales and production in the third quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year. The volume of deliveries in the specified period fell by 7.8% y/y. – to 1.29 million tons, steel production – by 23% year-on-year, to 1.17 million tons. The decline in operating results in this country was mainly due to the relining of one of the blast furnaces at Tata Steel IJmuiden.

In October-December 2023, the company’s British subsidiary, Tata Steel UK, produced 0.73 million tons of steel, down 4.5% year-on-year. Supply volumes in the period decreased by 1.4 y/y – to 0.63 million tons.

In addition, Tata Steel plans to invest approximately $1.2 billion annually to increase its steel capacity by 1-2 million tons per year to maintain its market share. This was announced by the company’s CEO T. V. Narendran, writes SteelOrbis.

He said that India’s steel sector is still in recovery mode from the Covid pandemic, but steel demand will continue to grow as the government focuses on infrastructure.

However, the CEO of Tata Steel expressed concerns about the growth of imports from China.

«In 2023, China exported 8 million tons of steel per month, the highest since 2015, and this has an impact on international prices as well as profitability,» he noted.

As GMK Center reported earlier, last October Tata Steel started construction electric arc furnace based on scrap with a capacity of 750 thousand tons per year in Ludhiana (Punjab state). Capital costs at the first stage will amount to $312.7 million. The facility is planned to be commissioned by March 2025, and it will be the first plant for the production of low-carbon green steel in India.