Tata Steel ends FY09 with 11% jump in saleable steel prod

Tata Steel ended financial year 2008-09 with an 11% jump in saleable steel production to 5.3 million tonne(mt) against 4.8 mt in the previous corresponding period. The company also registered a 14% hike in hot metal output to 6.2 mt in 2008-09, compared to 5.5 mt in the previous fiscal 2007-08. The company’s sales grew by nearly 9% to 5.2 million tonnes even in the face of an economic downturn during 2008-09. Compared to this, Tata Steel had sold 4.7 mt of steel in the previous corresponding period 2007-08. Out of this, long products sale rose 25% over the previous year to 2 mt in 2008-09. Sale of flat products however remained nearly same at 3.22 mt in 2008-09 againt 3.18 mt in the previous year 2007-08. The newly commissioned ‘H’ blast furnace surpassed its yearly target and running above the rated capacity in its very first year of operation. Steel melting shop (LD#2 & Slab Caster) achieved best ever slab production of 3.52 mt against previous best of 3.35 mt in FY 2008. During the year, Tata Steel reached a major milestone in its Total Quality Management(TQM) journey by winning Deming Award, the only integrated steel company outside Japan to earn this accolade.