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India's domestic steel consumption in February fell for the first time in the last three months by almost 2% to 6.84 million tonnes, something that doesn't augur well for the industry, which is banking on demand to pick up to spur growth.
However, steel imports last month fell marginally by 0.1% to 0.91 million tonnes (mt) compared with January 2016, but the decline was much steeper at 7.3% compared with the same month last year. This is the fourth consecutive year-on-year decline in in-bound shipments.
Domestic steel consumption in February stood at 6.84 mt, a decline of 1.9% against January, but it rose by 4.7% from February 2015, latest data by the steel ministry's Joint Plant Committee showed.
This is the first fall in domestic demand since November last year when steel consumption fell 15.5% to almost 6 mt from the preceding month, but rose 11.2% from a year earlier.
Even as in-bound shipments registered a fall, albeit marginally, in February 2016, import of finished steel grew by 20.5% to 10.22 mt during April-February of 2015-16, with India remaining a "net importer" of the metal so far this fiscal.
Also, steel production rose 1.8% yoy to 7.3 mt in February this year.
The increase comes after steel output in the world's third-largest producer fell 1.5% to 7.4 mt in January 2016.
