Indian long steelmaker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) or Vizag Steel’s April-July steel sales grew to 1.583mn mt by 48pc from the prior-year period. While RINL’s newly expanded unit SMS-2 produced 266,127mt of liquid steel and 258,124mt of crude steel in July 2021. The unit’s saleable steel volumes increased to 541,000mt, up by 38pc from a year ago, according to the company’s tweets on Tuesday.
In April-July of FY2021, the company’s sales volume grew despite challenges posed by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Domestic steel sales grew by 77pc to 1.12mn mt in the same period. Export sales turnover reached a record high of Rs8.27bn ($111.47mn) in July 2021, against the previous best of Rs6.36bn in September 2020.
Earlier, RINL reported Q1 FY2022 sales of 1.043mn, up by 54pc, while production rose to 1.237mn mt, up by 98pc from the prior-year quarter. Sales in the prior year were subdued to the nationwide lockdown to control the first wave of the pandemic.
The Indian government is in the process of fully divesting from RINL. The union cabinet had decided to sell the stake in January, and the union steel minister confirmed the same in a recent release.
Meanwhile, a pick-up in demand amid a short supply of finished steel in the market has prompted RINL to hike rebar prices. The mill is expected to hike rebar prices by Rs1,500/mt for August shipments, as per sources based in Vizag.
($1=Rs74.19)