Charged up

Calcutta, April 1: Tata Steel has come out with its best-ever performance during 2004-05 on the back of a strong demand.

During the year, the company produced 4.11 million tonnes of saleable steel.

Even as the figure is only half-a-per cent higher compared with the previous year, performance of 2004-05 stands out because the company?s largest blast furnace ? the ?G? Blast Furnace ? was down for capacity enhancement for four months from December 2004.

The company said the initiative to enrich the product mix reaped excellent returns. The supplies of hot-rolled (HR), cold-rolled (CR) and galvanised sheet products to the automobile industry jumped by 19 per cent over that of the previous year (2003-04).

The sales performance was supported by the 1.2- million-tonne cold-rolling mill churning out 1.44 million tonnes.

The sales of branded products ? Tata Shaktee (corrugated galvanised sheets), Tiscon (rebars) and Tata Steelium (cold-rolled sheets) ? increased by 10 per cent, 13 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

On the other hand, the clean coal and iron ore production this year has touched 3.27 million tonnes and 10.47 million tonnes respectively.

Most of the other divisions also attained their best-ever annual production.

The company posted a record annual production in all profit centres, namely ferro alloys & mineral division, tubes division, rings and agrico division, bearing division, Tata growth shop and wire division.

Among the profit centres, the ferro alloys & mineral division has produced 0.63 million tonnes of ferro-chrome in 2004-05, whereas the bearings division produced 25.047 million bearings.

The sales of tubes SBU has reached 0.22 million tonnes during 2004-05.

The company has increased its share in the original equipment manufacturers? (OEM) category like auto direct, ancillaries and appliances.

It gained market share in focus segments such as auto and construction.

Tata Steel has also emerged as a preferred supplier to major companies in the auto and white goods segments.