New Delhi: Tata Steel on Saturday said its sales volume surged by 18% to 4.69 lakh tonnes in May on the back of robust demand from auto and construction sectors.

In the corresponding month last year, the company’s sales stood at 3.97 lakh tonnes, the steel major said in a statement.

During the month under review, Tata Steel saw its saleable steel production surging by 23 per cent to 5.01 lakh tonnes as against 4.08 lakh tonnes.

The sale of long products, mainly used in construction industry, increased by 34% while that of flat items, used by auto and consumer durable sectors, increased by nine per cent, over the year-ago period.

Tata Steel’s crude steel output for the month went up by 17% to 4.86 lakh tonnes from 4.16 lakh tonnes, while hot metal production rose by 19 per cent to 5.28 lakh tonnes from 4.43 lakh tonnes.

The company claimed that one of its steel melting shops in Jamshedpur achieved best-ever May production at 2.18 lakh tonnes. Also, a merchant mill recorded best-ever May production of 30,710 tonnes over 28,505 tonnes the same period last year.

The output of its hot strip mill and new bar mill also registered an impressive growth over May 2008, it said.