There is no shortage of long steel products in India, Union Minister of Steel Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Sharing month-wise details, the Minister said, against 4,28,89,000 tonne of steel long products being produced – which include bars, rods, structurals and Railway materials – during the first nine months of the fiscal (April to December), the consumption stood at 4,16,99,000 tonne during this period.
Long steel products are used mostly in housing and construction sector.
“The total production of long products from April -December was more than the consumption,” he said.
In a separate response to the Lower House, the Minister said, there has also been a decline in the import of steel during the last three years.
Import declined from 7.84 million tonne in 2018-19 to 6.77 million tonne in FY20. If further declined to 4.75 million tonne in FY21. For the first nine months of FY22, import of steel stood at 3.46 million tonne.
“Steel being a deregulated sector, commercial decisions such as production, import and export are completely market driven, and are taken by the steel companies based on techno-commercial considerations,” Singh said.