India's steel consumption grew by just 0.5 per cent during the April-October period to 43.112 million tonnes on poor off-take from major consuming sectors such as construction and auto even as imports rose sharply.
The country, which is the fourth largest steel maker in the world, had consumed 42.9 million tonnes steel in the same period last fiscal, Joint Plant Committee, a unit under the Steel Ministry, today said in its monthly report.
"The slow/negative growth numbers appear to reflect the lingering effect of the economic slowdown and are further depressed by the decline in production for sale in October 2014 over October 2013," JPC said.
India's economy grew by 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal compared to 4.7 per cent in same quarter a year earlier. The rise in the GDP growth, however, failed to reflect on the consumption of steel.
Construction sector accounts for around 60 per cent of the country's total steel consumption while automobile sector consumes around 15 per cent. While construction sector is yet to get into full swing, the automobile sector recorded a dip in sales in the last two months of the festival season.
India's steel consumption grew by just 0.6 per cent in 2013-14 fiscal, its lowest in four years, to 73.93 million tonnes mainly impacted by a slower expansion of the domestic economy and lower imports.
Meanwhile, production for sale of total finished steel at 50.61 million tonnes, registering a growth of 2.3 per cent during April-October 2014 over the same period last fiscal.
Imports of total finished steel rose sharply to 4.741 million tonnes in April-October 2014 and saw a growth of 40.2 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal.
Exports, on the other hand, rose at a lower rate of 0.9 per cent to 3.198 million tonnes compared to 3.168 million tonnes.
