India's steel output edges past world in H1 of CY2019, lags China

Domestic production up 5% compared to China's 10% and global output rise of 4.9%; EU churns out 2.5% less steel

India's crude steel production has grown more than the world output during the first six months of calendar year 2019 compared to the same period of 2018.

During the first half (January-June) of 2019, the production of the metal grew by five per cent to 56.96 million tonnes (mt) compared to 54.23 million tonnes recorded in the same period of 2018, according to World Steel Association (WSA).

World crude steel production was 925.1 mt in the first six months of 2019, up by 4.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2018. Asia produced 660.2 mt of crude steel, an increase of 7.4 per cent over the first half of 2018. The EU produced 84.7 mt of crude steel in the first half of 2019, down by 2.5 per cent compared to the same period of 2018. 

North America’s crude steel production in the first six months of 2019 was 60.1 Mt, an increase of 1.4 per cent over the first half of 2018. The CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region produced 50.5 mt of crude steel in the first six months of 2019, the same as in the corresponding period of 2018.

China’s crude steel production for June 2019 was 87.5 mt, an increase of 10 per cent compared to June 2018. India produced 9.3 mt of crude steel in June 2019, an increase of 4 per cent compared to June 2018.

Japan produced 8.8 mt of crude steel in June 2019, down 0.4 per cent on June 2018. South Korea’s crude steel production was 6.0 mt in June 2019, a decrease of 2.6 per cent in June 2018.

India, back in 2018, had usurped Japan as the second largest steel producing nation. China, though, is the largest producer of crude steel, accounting for more than 51 per cent of all production, according to Worldsteel, a consortium with representative members in every major steel making country. In calendar 2018, India's crude steel output inched up 4.9 per cent to 106.5 mt, up from 101.5 mt in 2017.

In its earlier report titled 'Short Range Outlook April 2019', WSA had prophesied Indian steel demand to grow in upwards of seven per cent in 2019 and 2020.

Weathering the shocks of demonetisation and the Goods & Services Tax (GST) implementation, the Indian economy is now expected to step on the higher growth trajectory beginning the second half of 2019. While fiscal deficit might weigh on public investment to an extent, the wide range of continuing infrastructure projects could support growth in steel demand above seven per cent in both 2019 and 2020, the association had noted.