Tata Steel Ltd's sales for the December quarter fell marginally by one per cent, while production of its hot metal grew about 3 per cent for the quarter over corresponding period last year.
Tata Steel reported sales of 1.62 million tonnes for the third quarter ended December 2011 as against 1.64 million tonnes in corresponding last quarter, the company said in a statement. Shares of Tata Steel shed Re 1 or 0.28 per cent to close at Rs 361.80 on the BSE.
Product sales
The sale of flat products during the quarter was up 3 per cent year-on-year, while sales of long products were low due to the lower availability of finished goods because of the planned shut down in the mills, Tata Steel said.
Production of crude steel grew by 2.5 per cent to 1.76 million tonnes as against 1.72 million tonnes in corresponding last quarter. Output of hot metal was up 3 per cent at 1.9 million tonnes as against 1.84 million tonnes in corresponding previous quarter.
However, the production of saleable steel was down at 1.73 million as against 1.75 million tonnes.