Surplus output to hit stainless steel industry

Mumbai : India’s stainless steel industry may have 1.3 million tonnes of surplus output by the end of next calendar year on the back of massive capacity additions by domestic producers.India’s current per capita consumption of stainless steel is 1.2 kg. The industry target is to double consumption levels in the next two-three years.

The reason, industry experts say, is because China has better access to nickel pig iron. China imports ore from Indonesia and Philippines and converts it to produce around 500,000 tonnes of nickel pig iron in a year, in addition to its in-house production capacity of 300,000 tonnes —sufficient to produce 15 million tonnes of stainless steel of all grades.

“The biggest worry for Indian utensil manufacturers is that China has a surplus capacity of 2.5 million tonnes and is bound to dump it in Indian markets".