India’s steel consumption grew 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.
“India’s consumption of total finished steel saw a growth of 3.4 per cent in April 2014 over April 2013 and declined by 12.9 per cent over March 2014,” Joint Plant Committee, a unit of the Steel Ministry, today said.
Production of crude steel grew 2.7 per cent to 6.8 mt during the month. India is the world’s fourth largest steel producer.
Independent steel producers such as SAIL, RINL, Tata Steel, Essar Steel, JSW and JSPL together produced 3.7 mt 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 a steep decline of 8.9 per cent in the case of ISP producers and 1.3 per cent decline in the case of mini and other producers,” the committee said.
Imports rose 14.1 per cent to 0.494 mt, while exports saw an increase by 13 per cent to 0.461 mti during the month.
India consumed 73.9 mt of finished steel during 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.
Production of crude steel increased 3.8 per cent to 81.3 mt in 2013-14.