Posted on 07 Feb 2022
India's finished steel consumption was subdued on the year in January, although exports surged over 50pc as mills lowered offers to remain competitive in the market.
Finished steel consumption in January dropped by 5.1pc on the year to 9.65mn t, but rose by 3.9pc on the month, while production rose by 1.2pc on the year to 9.81mn t, but dipped on the month by 1.4pc, provisional data from the steel ministry's Joint Plant Committee (JPC) indicate. Finished steel comprises alloyed and non-alloyed steel.
January finished steel exports rose by 55.7pc on the year and by 2pc on the month to 814,000t. April-January finished steel exports rose by 26.1pc on the year to 11.1mn t.
India's hot-rolled coil export offers had fallen to as low as $750/t during last month, outcompeting Chinese and Japanese offers.
April-January finished steel consumption rose by 14.2pc to 86.3mn t, while output during the same period jumped by 20.5pc to 92.82mn t, the JPC data show.
Crude steel production in January inched up by only 0.3pc on the year and dropped by 1.1pc on the month to 10.3mn t. Hot metal production dropped by 1.2pc on an annual basis and by 2.4pc on the month to 6.6mn t.
April-January production of crude steel rose by 17.5pc on the year to 98.4mn t, while hot metal production rose by 15.1pc to 64.6mn t and pig iron production rose by 25.5pc.
Public-sector crude steel and finished steel production rose faster than private-sector output in April-January, by 21.6pc and 32.6pc on the year, respectively.
Crude steel production by integrated steelmakers Sail, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JSPL, RINL and AM/NS India during April-January accounted for 62pc of output, while their finished steel output accounted for 57pc of the total.
Finished steel Imports during January fell by 22.8pc from the previous year to 450,000t, but rose by 13.9pc on the month. April-January imports rose by 3pc to 3.9mn t during the same period.
| Finished steel | '000t | |||||
| Jan-22 | Jan-21 | ± % | Apr-Jan 2022 | Apr-Jan 2021 | ± % | |
| Production | 9,812 | 9,697 | 1 | 92,817 | 77,048 | 20.5 |
| Consumption | 9,653 | 10,177 | -5 | 86,299 | 75,581 | 14.2 |
| Exports | 814 | 523 | 56 | 11,142 | 8,837 | 26.1 |
| Imports | 450 | 582 | -23 | 3,907 | 3,792 | 3 |
| — JPC | ||||||
| Crude steel production | '000t | |||||
| Jan-22 | Jan-21 | ± % | Apr-Jan 2022 | Apr-Jan 2021 | ± % | |
| SAIL | 1,536 | 1,543 | 0 | 14,305 | 12,202 | 17 |
| TATA Steel | 1,660 | 1,562 | 6 | 15,823 | 14,017 | 13 |
| AM/NS + JSW + JSPL | 2,705 | 2,677 | 1 | 26,260 | 23,270 | 13 |
| RINL | 482 | 527 | -9 | 4,492 | 3,254 | 38 |
| Others | 3,942 | 3,990 | -1 | 37,511 | 30,973 | 21 |
| Total | 10,325 | 10,299 | 0 | 98,390 | 83,716 | 18 |
| — JPC |
Source:Argus Media
