Business operations
Tata Steel Asia is in the business of marketing and selling ferro alloys and value-added minerals produced by Tata Steel group companies. Headquartered in Hong Kong, with a representative office in Shanghai, the company is headed by Rajarshi Palit. It has a team of six employees.

 

Strategy and challenges
Tata Steel Asia has a 52 per cent share based on turnover and a 56 per cent share based on the volume of total exports of Tata Steel’s ferro alloys and value-added minerals. In FY2011, it had an estimated turnover of $222 million on a volume of 295KMT.

 

Even as it continues efforts to grow and establish a strong presence in China, it is faced with the varied challenges of doing business in China, including complex legal, tax and banking framework; a fast changing business environment; different rules for different provinces and cultural hurdles.

 

Accomplishments and vision
The company’s turnover grew 45 per cent in FY2011 over the previous year. It has developed a market for specialised grade refractory chrome concentrate and significantly expanded the customer base for chrome alloy, spanning all tiers of stainless steel mills.

 

In the immediate future, Tata Steel Asia aims to consolidate its customer base with a strategic plan to increase profitability. In the longer term, it wants to develop China as a strategic sustainable focus market and firmly establish the Tata name in the chrome business.