Posted on 10 Oct 2019
India’s crude steel production over April-September rose to 54.59 million mt, up 1.3% year on year from 53.91 million mt, provisional data released late Friday by the Joint Plant Committee showed.
This was lower than the 9.3% growth posted in the corresponding 2018 period.
A similar situation was seen in hot metal production, which reached 36.59 million mt for the six months to September, up 1.3% from 36.13 million mt the year before. The six-month period represents the first half of the Indian financial year.
The H1 year-on-year increases were lower than that posted in H1 2018, when crude steel output rose 9.3% from 49.32 million mt in H1 2017, while hot metal production grew 10.2% from 32.79 million mt over the same period.
Finished steel production for H1 posted an increase to 51.66 million mt, up 4.9% from 49.24 million mt the previous year, while consumption grew to 50.87 million mt, up 5% from 48.45 million mt.
Although the H1 figures were positive, September’s performance was mostly negative as the month’s crude steel production fell 4.5% year on year to 8.42 million mt, while hot metal output dropped 3% to 5.64 million mt.
Year-on-year, September’s finished steel production dipped 1.7% to 8.16 million mt, while consumption dipped 0.2% to 8.35 million mt, the JPC data showed.
On the trading front, finished steel imports rose 0.4% year on year in H1 to 4.02 million mt, while exports spiked 21.8% at 3.94 million mt.
But September’s trading activity was mixed with imports down 16.3% at 565,000 mt, while exports grew 72.8% to 1.02 million mt.
September’s weaker performance resulted from lower demand from major downstream industries such as the automobile and consumer durables sector amid less spending.
In September, goods and services tax collections sank to a 19-month low of Rupees 919.16 billion ($12.93 billion), which was down 2.7% year on year. The collections tend to indicate weak economic growth.
State-run JPC is the only body in India authorized to collect data on the domestic steel and iron industry.
