India Steel Demand

Indian steel market is hit by unfair imports and dumping amid a demand slump in China and the government needs to take action in a time-bound manner, former steel secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha has said. "If you take flat steel products, imports are certainly an issue. The slump in the Chinese market has really shaken the (domestic) market," Sinha, who superannuated on July 31, said at the 7th edition of BigMint's Indian Iron Ore and Pellet Summit on Friday. He also warned of the price realisations getting affected due to surging imports impacting the profitability of steel makers. "To the extent the imports currently happening are unfair and there is dumping going on and the Indian government should certainly respond to them in a timeframe," Sinha said. His statement assumes significance as local steel players have been raising the issue of imports for months from select countries including China. Steelmakers have raised concern that India is becoming a net importer of steel agai

Steel demand has been buoyant in India, the world's second-biggest crude steel producer

The domestic steel demand is expected to grow at a rate of 10 per cent over the next few years, supported by the government's focus on infrastructure, Steel Secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha said on Wednesday. The official made the remarks addressing a 'CII Conference on Future Ready and Green Manufacturing' conference in the national capital. With the government's focus on infrastructure, the domestic steel demand will grow in double-digits, he said. "The demand has grown by 13-14 per cent year-on-year in the financial year 2023-24. It will continue to grow by 10 per cent in the future," Sinha said. As per official data, crude steel production was around 145 million tonnes (MnT) in 2023-24 financial year, up from 127 MnT in the last fiscal. Consumption stood at 136 Mnt in the financial year 2023-24, as against 120 MnT in 2022-23.

Domestic finished steel consumption has registered a growth of 13 per cent to 136 million tonnes during 2023-24, supported by increased demand from automotive and infrastructure sectors, SteelMint India said. The country consumed 120 million tonne (MT) finished steel in the preceding 2022-23 financial year, the research firm said in a report. "Demand from the automotive industry improved in FY24, along with focus increasing towards the EVs. Infrastructure and construction sectors also showed resilience with investments, mostly supported by government-funded development projects," SteelMint said. The production of crude steel in the country rose 12.6 per cent to 143 MT over 127 MT in the previous fiscal. The development assumes significance as under the National Steel Policy, the government is aiming to increase India's annual steel manufacturing capacity to 300 MT and per capita steel consumption to 160 kg by 2030. As per the SteelMint data, the consumption of finished steel rose

The increased capex on infrastructure in the budget will spur domestic steel demand, attract investments and create job opportunities, industry players and experts said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her sixth Budget on Thursday in which she announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure among other proposals for sectors like solar and startups. "This focus on infra will result in robust domestic steel demand, attract investments and create job creation. The coming 5 years will see again the unprecedented growth and development and steel will be a key driver in this development," Alok Sahay, Secretary General, Indian Steel Association (ISA) told PTI. Kamdhenu CMD Satish Kumar Agarwal said the budget addressed one of the most important needs of the middle class that is housing. The government's commitment to build 20 million houses for the poor in the next five years and the announcement of a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class buy or bui

Indian steel companies consume around 70 million metric tons of coking coal annually, and imports constitute around 85% of the country's total requirement

The Indian steel sector has enjoyed a multi-year demand surge which will continue in the current FY'24 but it is expected to moderate in the coming fiscal, global analytics company Crisil said. The sector has witnessed double digit demand growth rate of 11 to 13 per cent during three consecutive years and is likely to moderate to 3 to 5 per cent in FY'25, Miren Lodha, Director Research, Crisil Market Intelligence and Analytics said on Friday. "We are clearly in the midst of a demand supercycle," Lodha told PTI. The moderation is likely in the long steel segment in FY'25 ahead of the general election. The only other instance of such a demand surge in the last two decades was between 2006 to 2008, he said. Lodha said the infrastructure sector, a key driver of the steel demand, is expected to maintain its momentum fuelled by ongoing government projects. The infrastructure segment has been driving a lot of momentum in the steel demand and is expected to continue in the coming years.

The government is working on Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme 2.0 as well as looking at ways to ensure adequate raw material supply for the steel sector in 2024, according to Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste. While a robust economic growth will increase the demand for steel, industry players remain concerned about rising imports and high raw material prices amid geopolitical uncertainties. Production and consumption of steel have shown a strong recovery after the coronavirus pandemic that impacted the sector in 2020-21. During the April-November period this year, the cumulative production of crude steel was 94.01 Million Tonnes (MT), up 14.5 per cent year-on-year. The consumption of finished steel jumped 14 per cent to 86.97 MT on an annual basis during the same period, as per data from the steel ministry. India has set a target of having an installed steel manufacturing capacity of 300 MT by 2030. At present, the country has a capacity of around 161 MT. "We are prepari

India has registered an increase of 11.4 per cent in its crude steel production at 11.7 million tonne (MT) in November this year, according to World Steel Association (worldsteel). During January-November, the country's production was 12.1 per cent higher year on year (y-o-y) at 128.2 MT, the global body said in its latest report. The global steel production in November was at 145.5 MT, 3.3 per cent up over same month in 2022. The world output rose marginally by 0.5 per cent to 1,715.1 MT in January-November 2023, worldsteel said. China produced 76.1 MT steel in November, up 0.4 per cent over November 2022. It produced 952.1 MT in January-November, higher 1.5 per cent y-o-y. In November, Japan's output fell 0.9 per cent to 7.1 MT, while the overall production was 2.8 per cent lower at 80 MT during January-November 2023. The US produced 6.6 MT steel in last month and 73.9 MT in the eleven-month period of 2023. Russia produced 6.4 MT in November and 70.2 MT in January-November 2023

"We expect finished steel consumption in India to increase by 9 per cent in FY25, following a 12 per cent rise in FY24," Fitch Ratings said

The government on Thursday rolled out an initiative under which steel makers will add 'Made in India' labels to their products to promote locally-made goods at the global level. The move is aimed at realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' vision, Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said. In the first phase, all Integrated Steel Players (ISPs) have been included under the initiative to introduce branding and labelling of 'Made-in-India' steel products in the global market, the Ministry of Steel said in a statement. The Secondary Steel Industries (SSIs) will join the initiative in the second phase, it said. Scindia chaired a consultative committee meeting to discuss the progress on the first-of-its kind initiative by the Ministry of Steel and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to introduce branding and labelling of 'Made-in-India' steel products in the global market. Apart from making Indian steel products more attractive to buyers, this would also ensure

The demand for steel in India is expected to register a 'healthy growth' of 8.6 per cent against the overall global rise of 1.8 per cent in 2023, worldsteel said on Tuesday. It forecasts that global steel demand will grow 1.8 per cent in 2023 and reach 1,814.5 MT after having contracted by 3.3 per cent in 2022. In 2024, the demand will see an increase of 1.9 per cent to 1,849.1 MT, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) said. For India, the global body said, "after a growth of 9.3 per cent in 2022, steel demand is expected to show healthy growth of 8.6 per cent in 2023 and 7.7 per cent in 2024." The Indian economy remains stable against the pressure of high interest rate environment, and the steel demand is expected to continue its high growth momentum. Growth in India's construction sector is driven by government spending on infrastructure and recovery in private investment. Infrastructure investment will also support the capital goods sector growth, worldsteel said in its Shor

India is monitoring the import situation on steel after shipments from China touched a five-year high in the first four months

India's crude steel production increased by 8.37 per cent in April-June period to 33.63 MT and the momentum is likely to continue in the current quarter as well, according to SteelMint. Higher production and capacity ramp-up activities by steel mills will meet the increasing demand, the research firm said in a note. India had produced 31.03 million tonnes (MT) of steel in the April-June quarter of the preceding 2022-23 financial year, SteelMint data showed. Finished steel production in India rose 11.66 per cent in the quarter under review to 32.41 MT, from 29.03 MT in the same quarter a year ago. The domestic steel consumption rose 10.16 per cent to 30.29 MT from 27.50 MT a year ago. The imports of steel surged to 1.40 MT in April-June 2023, posting a 19.54 per cent rise over 1.17 MT in the year-ago period. "Price disparity in landed cost of imports and prevailing domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices boosted imports," a SteelMint analyst said. Exports shrinked 6.39 per cent to

The ISA said that with strong momentum in infra spending and sustained growth in urban consumption, steel demand in India would expand by 8-9 mt every year in the next two financial years

India's imports of Russian steel rose to an eight-year high during the first 10 months of the financial year that began in April 2022, government data compiled by Reuters showed

Inward shipments rose 15% in April through October from a year earlier to 3.1 million tons, according to government figures

Currency depreciation of over 6% may have supported uptrend; industry players confident that prices have bottomed out

India's crude steel output rose by 2.56 per cent to 30.06 million tonne (MT) during the July-September period of the ongoing financial year. As per research firm SteelMint, the top six steel makers -- SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JSPL, AMNS India and RINL -- produced 18.29 MT steel, the rest 11.77 MT came in from the secondary sector. The country had produced 29.31 MT of steel during the same quarter in the preceding 2021-22 financial year, according the data shared by SteelMint. During the said quarter last fiscal, large producers had jointly manufactured 18.39 MT steel, while the secondary industry produced 10.92 MT, it said. During the quarter ended September 30, 2022, steel exports fell to 1.41 MT from 4.20 MT in the year ago period, registering a year-on-year (y-o-y) fall of 66.43 per cent. The domestic consumption was 11.33 per cent higher at 27.52 MT, as against 24.72 MT in July-September 2021. On the outlook for the sector during the running October-December quarter, Stee

Tata Steel said domestic despatches were up 5% YoY, leveraging a strong marketing network and an agile business model