India Steel Output Rises In April; Exports Slump

India steel output rose in April, however, the commodity saw lesser exports during the month.

The country's crude steel output in April 2018 increased 5.6 per cent to 8.7 million tonne as compared to the year-ago month, the World Steel Association has said.

The exports of finished steel, however, witnessed a decline by 25.2 percent to 0.558 MT during April 2018, according to a report.

The country had exported 0.746 million tonnes finished steel during the same month a year ago, the Joint Plant Committee said in its latest report.

The JPC, under the Ministry of Steel, is the only institution in the country that collects and maintains data on domestic steel and iron industry.

“At 0.558 million tonnes, export of total finished steel was down by 25.2 percent in April 2018 over April 2017,” the report said.

The total output of finished steel for sale in April stood at 8.737 million tonnes, up 5.4 percent from 8.286 million tonnes the country had produced in the same month last year, the report said.

Union Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh had earlier said that India should export six to seven percent of its total steel production.

As against exports, the imports grew 18.8 percent to 0.599 million tonnes during April, compared to 0.504 MT in the same month the previous year.

India's consumption of total finished steel grew 8.2 percent to 6.984 million tonnes over April 2017, when the consumption was 6.454 million tonnes, the report said.

“The consumption of total finished steel saw a growth of 8.2 percent in April 2018 at million tonnes over April 2017, under the influence of a rising supply side as both production for sale and imports increased in April 2018 over April 2017,” the JPC said.

The Cabinet, in May last year, approved National Steel Policy 2017 that envisages Rs 10 lakh crore investment to take capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030-31 to give a boost to the sector.

The NSP also aims at more than double the per capita steel consumption to 158 kilogram by 2030-31, from about 61 kilogram at present.