SAIL MARKET SHARE UP 26 PER CENT

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The Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) increased its market share to over 26 per cent during 2001-02 by adopting a segment oriented product focused strategy which enabled additional sales of 5.5 lakh tones of steel indigenously. This was achieved despite depressed demand, price fluctuations and cut-throat competition.

Substantially increased sales of flat products which was the main area of competition globally, contributed to this growth. Domestic prices of HR coils had fallen by nearly Rs. 3,000-4,000/ tonne. Competition between the domestic flat steel producers was at a peak. Facing the situation boldly, SAIL could achieve an appreciable growth of nearly one per cent in flat products, taking its market share in this product category to 36.7 per cent. In the area of long products, too, SAIL increased its market share to 16.8 per cent. The company notched up sales of 3.4 MT in the face of stiff competition from integrated steel producers like Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) and Tata Steel, as well as innumerable secondary producers.