Tata launches cold-rolled steel in Sri Lanka

India's steel behemoth Tata Steel has launched its first branded cold-rolled steel -Tata Steelium - in Sri Lanka with an eye on the auto-ancillaries sector in the island country.

Tata Steel has been selling its products in the Sri Lankan market for more than a decade and over the years, its focus in the country has shifted from transactional sales to relationship-based sales to key accounts, a senior company official said while launching the product yesterday.

The official said it is this long term focus that has allowed Tata Steel to be a market leader in the Cold Roll Critically  Annealed (CRCA) products in Sri lanka over the past four years.

Tata Steelium will provide a credible option in the Emerald Island for electrical engineering products and other components besides makers of steel furniture and other allied products.

The drums and barrels industry will also have access to a raw material that will make for safer and stronger products, the officials said.

Manufactured at one of the world's most sophisticated facilities, at Jamshedpur, Tata Steelium possesses advanced attributes, such as superior formability, flatness, surface quality, thickness consistency and strength, a company release said.

It said the product has a high level of consistency in width and thickness, ensuring low wastage, and is characterised by better packaging.

In Sri Lanka, Tatas already have a big presence in the automobile market besides having a wire manufacturing unit.

Tata Tea has a substantial interest in the Sri Lankan tea industry through Watawala Plantations, where it focuses on production and marketing of tea, rubber and palm oil.