The steel ministry is confident of achieving the current year's target of over 120 million tonne in production on the back of growing domestic demand and softening of international iron ore prices.
“We will meet the targets we have set out. There is no revision of our projections at the moment. We have to wait and see how things play out going forward," said DRS Choudhary, secretary, Ministry of Steel, said here on Tuesday.
In response to a question, he said it was not correct to say the demand had come down in the country. “In fact, the demand for steel has gone up even during the monsoon season. There may be a slump internationally but not in India,” he added.
The country had produced around 89 million tonne steel last year and there have been concerns about the demand and newer capacity additions in view of the economic slowdown in the country.
The steel secretary, however, said the ongoing brownfield expansion was happening according to schedule both in public and the private sectors.
Public sector Steel Authority of India (SAIL) had undertaken capacity expansion at several of its existing plants with an investment of Rs 75,000 crore and in private sector the Tatas had embarked on a 10-million tonne capacity addition.
On domestic iron ore prices being higher compared with international prices, Choudhary said it was a supply-demand issue and the government had no role in it.
It may be recalled public sector iron ore miner NMDC Limited had raised ore prices 8-13 per cent last month — this comes to over Rs 6,000 per tonne compared with the international prices of around Rs 5,500 a tonne (below $100 per tonne).
