Saturday 5 March 2011

Steel Industry



Overview:
India's Steel Industry is more than a century old. Before the economic reforms of the early 1990s the Indian steel industry was a predominantly regulated one with the public sector dominating the industry.

Tata Steel was the only major private sector company involved the production of steel in India. Sail and Tata Steel have traditionally been the major steel producers of India. In 1992, the liberalization of the India economy led to the opening up of various industries including the steel industry. This led to the increase in the number of producers, increased investments in the steel industry and increased production capacity. Since 1990, more than Rs 19,000 crores (US$ 4470.58 million) has been invested in the steel industry of India.

India's steel industry went through a rough phase between 1997 and 2001 when the overall global steel was facing a downturn and recovered after 2002. The major factors that led to the revival of the steel industry in India after 2002 was the rise in global demand for steel and the domestic economic growth in India. 
 

India has now emerged as the eighth largest producer of steel in the world with a production capacity of 35MT. Almost all varieties of steel is now produced in India. India has also emerged as a net exporter of steel which shows that Indian steel is being increasingly accepted in the global market.

The growth of the steel industry in India is also dependant, to a large extent, on the level of consumption of steel in the domestic market. Steel consumption is significant in housing and infrastructure. In recent years the surge in housing industry of India has led to increase in the domestic demand for steel.

More than 3500 different varieties of steel are available in the steel industry of India. These can however be classified into two broad categories -


  • Flat Products - Flat products include plates and hot rolled sheets such as coils and sheets. Flat products are derived from slabs. One of the major uses of steel plates is in ship building.



  • Long Products - Long products include bars, rods, wires, ropes and piers. These are called long products due to their shapes. Long products are made from billets and blooms. Long products are mostly used in housing and construction and also in rail tracks.



  • Industry Statistics

    Government targets to increase the production capacity from 56 million tones annually to 124 MT in the first phase which will come to an end by 2011 - 12. Currently with a production of 56 million tones India accounts for over 7% of the total steel produced globally, while it accounts to about 5% of global steel consumption. The steel sector in India grew by 5.3% in May 2009. Globally India is the only country to post a positive overall growth in the production of crude steel at 1.01% for the period of January - March in 2009.
     Export 

    About 50% of the steel produced in India is exported. India's export of steel during April - December 2008 was 64.4 MT as against 9.7 MT in December 2007. In February 2009, steel export increased by 17% to 12.6 MT from 10.8 MT in the same month last year. More than 50% of steel from India is exported to China. The Government's decision to reduce export duty on iron ore lumps from 15% to 5% has given a major boost to the export of steel.
     


    Strengths:
    There are many strong points of the industry that makes it one of the leading names in the global steel industry. The rate of labor wage in India is among one of the lowest in the world thereby making large scale production feasible. The boom witnessed in the automobile industry has ensured that the demand for steel is increasing gradually and will continue to do so in the near future. There is huge manpower in India which is another reason why steel production in India is high and the industry is doing pretty well both nationally and internationally.



    Investments:
    Numerous steel companies some major projects in the pipeline to invest in India Steel industry. Steel companies have earmarked more than 100 million USD for the setting up of sponge iron units in Koppal and Bellary in Karnataka. As per Investment Commission of India more than 30 billion USD are in the pipeline for investment over the next five years. 

    2 comments:

    1. Useful blog posted here. If you are looking for chq wire for fastener industry then contact Precision Drawell.

      ReplyDelete
    2. Extraordinary blog went amazed with the content that they have developed in a very descriptive manner. This type of content surely ensures the participants to explore themselves. Hope you deliver the same near the future as well. Gratitude to the blogger for the efforts.
      Steel Pipe Suppliers in India

      ReplyDelete