Tata Steel may provide steel to Toyota and Nissan for the production of their new cars in India.

The company, which claims to meet 40 per cent of steel demand of the auto sector, already provides nearly all the steel for some of Toyota’s cars. It now has approval from Nissan too.

 

Nissan plans to roll out its compact car, Micra, from the Nissan-Renault facility in Chennai, while Toyota plans to build a new car on a new platform, to enter the Indian small-car market.

 

Tata Steel produces 1.5 mtpa of flats for autos. It is also one of the few to manufacture steel skins, the outer cover of cars. It plans to double the skin production of 50,000 tonnes to 1 lakh tonnes, according to Mr Avneesh Gupta, chief, Total Quality Management, Tata Steel.

 

Prices of flat products used in cars are on the rise again on demand from the auto sector.

 

Tata Steel, whose clients include Hyundai, Tata Motors and Honda, today announced a Rs 500-1,000 increase in certain flat products. Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has also increased prices by Rs 800-1000 on flats, except for galvanised plain sheets and mill plates. JSW too increased prices of flat products by 2-3 per cent. It has, however, cut prices of long products, used in construction, by 3-4 per cent.

 

“Flat prices had fallen much more sharply than long products when the automobile and consumer durable sectors were down. Now that the two sectors are coming back, we are seeing a pricing demand,” said Mr Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD and Group CFO, JSW Steel.

 

SAIL has also cut prices of long products, TMT, structurals and others, by Rs 500-2000 a tonne.

Sales of long products continue to be sluggish. While the second quarter is traditionally a weak period because of the monsoon, the fear of drought in north India further affected the sales this year, said Mr Hridayeshwar Jha, Vice-President, Safety and Long Products, Tata Steel. –Business Line