Apparent Consumption Of Steel Drops By 0.4%

Apparent consumption of finished steel declined by 0.4 per cent in the first eight months of 1997-98 as compared to the corresponding period last year.

Apparent consumption (roughly equal to domestic demand) during April-November '97 declined to 14.19 million tonnes (mt) compared to 14.24 mt during the same period last year.

As a result of the slackening demand, inventories of leading steel producers, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Tata Steel (Tisco), have increased substantially. Stock of saleable steel held by SAIL has increased by more than 45 per cent to 1.54 mt at the end of November from 1.06 mt in April.

Tisco's stock of saleable steel, over the same period has increased by 61 per cent to 0.2 mt from 0.124 mt, according to latest provisional estimates by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC).

The Joint Plant Committee is a body of steel producers under the Union steel ministry.

Net profit of SAIL and Tisco, which slumped by 85 per cent and 30 per cent respectively in the first half of 1997-98, is likely to remain under pressure in the second half too, industry analysts said.

The stocks of saleable steel of the four main producers -- SAIL, Tisco, Iisco and Vizag Steel plant (VSP) -- went up by 49 per cent between April and November.

However, the stock of saleable steel held by the Steel Autjority of India Limited and Tata Steel have declined marginally in November by 7,000 tonnes and 14,000 tonnes respectively.

The total production of finished steel (carbon) during the reference period fell by 0.6 per cent to 14.61 mt from 14.70 mt last year.

The total production of finished steel by main producers declined by 2.5 per cent during the period, while the production of the secondary sector grew by 1.1 per cent. 6.71 mt of finished steel was produced by the main producers and 7.90 mt by secondary producers.

Though the steel ministry aggressively promoted steel exports in view of the sluggish domestic demand, exports during the first eight months came down by 7.7 per cent to 0.90 mt compared to 0.975 mt last year.