Steel consumption in April-Aug up 1.3%

Mumbai : 08 Sep 11 | 01:09 AM:India’s steel consumption grew by a mere 1.3 per cent in the first five months (April-August) of this financial year, at a time when spending on infrastructure development is given more emphasis. The production, however, grew by 9.9 per cent.

According to data made available by the Joint Plant Committee, the government organisation tracking the steel metrics, the real consumption of steel in the first five months has been 28.05 million tonnes (mt) as against 27.69 mt in the same period a year ago. The production in the given period has increased by nearly 10 per cent, at 29.06 mt. Pinakin Parekh and Neha Manpuria of JP Morgan, in their report dated September 6, said, “We remain surprised by the wide variance in the consumption and production growth trends. The large increase in production compared with muted steel demand points to an increase in the inventory levels in the system."