Raipur: The country's largest steel maker Tata Steel Tuesday reported a 14 percent fall in sales in the October-December quarter over the corresponding period in 2007.

According to an official statement, the company's total sales during the period stood at 1.07 million tonnes. The fall was attributed to the impact of the global meltdown.

However, the steel major registered a 27 percent growth in the long product sales in the third quarter at 480,000 tonnes.

The hot metal and crude steel production also went up during the quarter.

"The hot metal production at 1.7 million tonnes and crude steel production at 1.5 million tonnes were higher by 23 percent and 17 percent respectively," the statement added.