Tata Steel on Thursday said its consolidated sales fell 22.8 per cent to 5.28 million tonnes (mt) during the June quarter of 2020 compared with the consolidated sales of 6.84 mt in the year-ago period as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted operations.

The consolidated production during the quarter also fell 28.49 per cent to 5.52 mt from 7.72 mt in the first quarter of 2019-20, the company said in a regulatory filing.

In the just concluded quarter, Tata Steel India sales were at 2.92 mt, down from 3.96 mt in the year-ago period, while the production volume fell to 2.99 mt from 4.5 mt.

The company’s sales in Europe fell to 1.94 mt from 2.26 mt in the year-ago period, while production fell to 2.14 mt from 2.65 mt.

Tata Steel South East Asia registered sales of 0.42 mt compared with 0.62 mt in first quarter of 2019-20, while the output was at 0.39 mt against 0.57 mt in the same quarter a year ago.

Tata Steel said overall first quarter of 2020-21 production and sales volumes were lower as the outbreak of Covid-19 and ensuing mobility restrictions severally impacted industrial activity and consumer sentiment across all geographies.

“In India, capacity utilisation of our upstream facilities was adjusted to about 50 per cent level in April while our downstream units were closed,” the company said.

With the phased opening of the economy, the company said capacity utilisation have been ramped up to around 80 per cent by the end of June. Downstream facilities have restarted with production rising gradually.

Tata Steel said to counter the closure of the Indian markets in April and May, export was raised significantly by tapping new markets and improving the supply chain capability and will constitute around 50 per cent of total sales volume in the first quarter of 2020-21.