JSW Steel, India’s third-largest steel producer, is planning to more than double its retail presence to about 400 stores in the next financial year to benefit from rising demand for steel products. With this, total sales of the company would be over a million tonnes, up from about half a million tonnes at present.
The company, in association with distributors, started opening retail outlets in late 2007 to offer branded steel products. The company plans to have 175 retail outlets by March-end.
“Steel demand is likely to grow 10 per cent next year, up from 8 per cent this year,” said Jayant Acharya, director, sales and marketing at JSW Steel. “Expansion of these stores will help as here we get better profit margin,” he said. However, he did not quantify the margin.
These outlets account for 15 per cent of the company’s total sales. The company reported net sales of Rs 13,515 crore for the nine months ended 31 December, 2009. Net profit was Rs 986 crore.
JSW Steel said in the next financial year, it was expecting crude steel production to be close to its full capacity of 7.8 million tonnes, which would make it the largest steel producer in the private sector in the country.
The company’s shares were down 0.4 per cent to Rs 1,242.5 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday.
