Another price hike by VSP

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) has once again hiked its product prices by Rs 300-500 a tonne with effect from January 1.

During the last nine months, it raised the steel product prices by Rs 3,000-5,000 per tonne. "Worldwide prices have been increased for coking coal and freight. Locally, several materials costs have gone up. Owing to these reasons, VSP had no alternative but to effect the price hike," informed the sources at VSP.

The steel plant recorded 25 per cent growth in the domestic sales and 31 per cent in exports during the first three quarters of current fiscal, compared to the corresponding period during the last fiscal.

During the last month, the sales touched Rs 601 crores, taking the total sales during April-December to Rs 4,142 crore as against Rs 3,273 crore in the last fiscal's corresponding period.

Domestic sales, which were at Rs 2,875 crore during the first nine months of last fiscal, rose to Rs 3,620 crore during the current fiscal , registered a growth of 25 per cent. On the exports front also, Vizag Steel Plant achieved significant growth.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal, it exported Rs 522 crore worth products as against Rs 398 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal, recording a growth of 31 per cent.

Last fiscal the total exports were about Rs 600 crore, and this year the figure is likely to cross Rs 700 crore, the sources said.

"During the last financial year, our total sales turnover was Rs 5,059 crore. If this current trend continues in the coming quarter as well, the plant's sales may cross Rs 5,500 crore by the end of March and exports will also exceed Rs 700 crores," Sivasagar Rao, the director (commercial) of VSP, told Business Standard.