This was "enabled by an all-time high in June sales," a company release said. SAIL sold 16.2 lakh tonnes of steel between April and June this year, which was 2.4 lakh tonne and 19 per cent higher than in the first quarter of last year. In June alone, SAIL sold 6.22 lakh tonnes of the alloy.

Stocks were whittled down by 85,000 tonnes. Traditionally steel stocks tend to rise in the first quarter and come tumbling down at the fag end of the fiscal, aided by `stock clearance sales' and discounts.

The SAIL strategy in the first quarter had been to liquidate inventory and restrict production to grades not in stock. "We reworked our strategy well in advance to meet the challenges arising out of a sluggish market," the release quotes chairman Arvind Pande as having said. This year the company undertook most of its capital repairs in the first quarter,instead of spacing it out throughout the year.

Iisco hikes output by 25 per cent: Meanwhile, SAIL subsidiary The Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd (Iisco) increased its ingot steel output by 25.1 per cent and raised its hot metal output by 5.9 per cent. The production of Iisco's light structural mill grew by 10.8 per cent and the output of its heavy structural mill went up by 1.8 per cent, indicating a higher output of finished products.

The 78-year-old integrated steel plant is now under the wings of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. SAIL and the centre are in the process of working out a revival package.