Tata Steel CEO and Managing Director TV Narendran said that the company’s production capacity has recovered to 100pc as domestic demand revived in the current quarter owing to good rainfall and rural economy, according to media reports.
The company is now less reliant on exports in Q2 as compared to Q1, he added.
The Indian steelmaker’s annual operational capacity in India is 20.6mn mt. In Q1, the company produced 2.99mn mt of crude steel, while sales stood at 2.92mn mt. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the company had reduced its operations by nearly 50pc in April that impacted business severely, forcing them to export.
Since the lockdown has relaxed across the country, the company has ramped up its production in a phased manner.
Narendran said that the company is gradually witnessing demand from other sectors including the auto sector — led by demand for tractors and motorcycles demand — and the government’s spending on various works including the oil and gas sector, water conveyance systems, and railways. Q2 has been a strong quarter for appliances, he added.
Internationally, China’s V-shaped recovery and its transition from being a net exporter of steel to a net importer have changed the demand-supply dynamics in the region, he added.
Due to the long value chain from mining to downstream and growth opportunities, the Indian steel market is expected to be one of the most profitable in the global steel industry. The company had incurred losses in the past two quarters.