New Delhi: India's steel consumption grew by 3.4 per cent to 5.8 million tonnes in April 2014 over the same month a year ago. It, however, witnessed a sharp 12.9 per cent decline over the preceding month.
Production of crude steel grew by 2.7 per cent to 6.8 million tonnes during the month. India is the world's fourth largest steel producer. Independent Steel Producers (ISPs) such as SAIL, RINL, Tata Steel, Essar Steel, JSW and JSPL together produced 3.7 million tonnes in April, while the remaining came from minor producers.
"Compared to March 2014, overall crude steel production declined by 5.6 per cent in April 2014, led by steep decline of 8.9 per cent in case of ISP producers and 1.3 per cent decline in case of mini and other producers," JPC said. Imports spurt 14.1 per cent to 0.494 million tonnes, while exports saw an increase by 13 per cent to 0.461 million tonnes during the month.
India consumed 73.9 million tonnes of finished steel during the last fiscal, clocking just a 0.6 per cent growth over the previous fiscal, impacted primarily by the slowdown in the domestic economy and a sharp decline in imports. The production of crude steel increased by 3.8 per cent to 81.3 million tonnes in 2013-14.
