Impacted by the economic slowdown, India’s steel consumption grew by just 0.5 per cent to 53.789 million tonnes during April-December period of this fiscal.

According to Joint Plant Committee (JPC), a body under the Steel Ministry, a sharp decline in imports also led to the fall in consumption.

The consumption of finished steel, a key indicator of the health of an economy, was at 53.52 MT in the first eight months of the last fiscal, 2012—13.

Indian economy grew by 4.8 per cent during July—September quarter. It had hit a decade’s low of 5 per cent in 2012—13 due to poor performance in the farm, manufacturing and mining sectors.

“India’s real consumption of total finished steel was up by 0.5 per cent in April—December 2013—14 at 53.789 MT over April—December 2012—13, impacted by slowdown in the domestic economy and a sharp decline in imports (down by 29.2 per cent),” JPC said.

Though the consumption growth in December was better at 1.5 per cent, it saw a 7 per cent decline compared to November this year, indicating that the base level demand conditions continued to remain weak during the current fiscal so far.

Production for sale of the finished steel at 60.446 MT, registered a growth of 5.2 per cent during the April—December period buoyed by growth in production by main producers such as SAIL, Tata Steel and RINL.

Cumulatively, they produced 19.207 MT steel during the period, clocking a growth of 5.5 per cent year—on—year.

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