Tata Steel Ltd.

Tata Steel, the world’s seventh-largest steelmaker reported a fall of 1.1% in its December quarter sales, while production of its hot metal grew about 3% for the quarter over corresponding period last year.

The company has 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 sale of flat products during the quarter was up 3% 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.

Production of crude steel grew by 2.5% to 1.76 million tonnes as against 1.72 million tonnes in corresponding last quarter. Output of hot metal was up 3% 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.