India’s steel demand, consumption expected to grow 5.7% annually

23 july 2018

India is on the right track of growing steel, the likes of which hasn’t been seen before, says Sushim Banerjee, Director General, Institute for Steel Development & Growth (INSDAG).

Banerjee was speaking at the ‘Metals Conclave 2018-Steel Intensive Growth: Pathway for India’, organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I) in a city hotel on Wednesday.

“According to world steel figures, India is the only country, exhibiting a growth nearing 8 percent. It is one of the few countries trying to come up from the lower-income group to mid-income group. Hence, there is a demand for steel consumption that requires a lot in terms of development on the part of steel producers,” Banerjee said.

India stands at third position in steel production and the sector has contributed much owing to the availability of raw materials like iron ore and of course cheap labour. India stands 4th largest in the world with regards to iron ore production and third largest in coal production.

In 2016, the world crude steel production reached 1,630 million tonne (mt) and showed a growth of 0.6 percent over 2015.

The Government’s rapid progress in road and infrastructure projects has increased the demands for steel. Consumption of steel is expected to grow by 5.7 percent year on year to 92.1 MT by 2018, experts said.

Aloke Mukherjea, former President, BCC&I said: “Steel plays a pivotal role in traditional fields like construction, housing and ground transportation. Special steels are finding increasing usage in engineering sectors like fertilizers, petrochemicals and power generation.” Gulshan Ratan, AGM, Design, Garden Reach Shipbuilding & Engineers Limited (GRSE), stated that steel is used in warships, naval ships and exporting Bailey bridges in neighboring countries like Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Source: MILLENNIUM POST