New Delhi: India has emerged as the only country in the world to have registered growth in steel production during the month of April this year, according to the data compiled by the World Steel Association (WSA).
The WSA report say that India, which is the second largest steel producer in the world after China, has produced about 12.1 million tonne of steel in April 2024, which is about 3.6% more than the country had produced in April last year.
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Market experts in the sector asserted that higher growth in steel production could be attributed to increased level of construction and economic activities in the country. “Large infrastructure projects like roads, railways, bridges, ports, etc., are being built across the country to push growth and create employment opportunities. This activity required a lot of steel as input,” said an officer of the Union steel ministry.
Transport-related industries also kept consuming good amount of steel to manufacture vehicles, including cars, two-wheelers and commercial vehicles. The demand for vehicles have been growing up steadily in the past few years. These sectors uses steel as a raw materials.
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Industry experts say that India has emerged as a bright spot amid hint of a global slowdown and the steel sector is a reflection of this.
As per the WSA data, Japan produced 7.1 million tonnes (MT) of steel, down 2.5%, while the US produced 6.7 MT steel, which is about 2.8% production in the corresponding month last year. Russia is estimated to have produced 6.2 MT steel, down 5.7% and South Korea’s production of steel dipped by 10.4% to 5.1 MT in April this year.
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China, which has massive excess capacity in steel and has run into the US tariff barrier for its exports, recorded 7% decline in steel production to 85.9 MT. Industry experts fear that China might resort to dumping its excess steel at cheaper rates in other countries, as it has lost the US market.
