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Rays of recovery - Indian steel demand growth revised to 10%

Lesedauer: min

Bloomberg cited Mr PK Rastogi steel secretary as saying that India’s steel demand may gain as much as 10% this fiscal year, almost double the pace previously estimated, as the government spends more on infrastructure.

Mr Rastogi, revising his May 18th forecast of 6% growth this year, said “Based on the economic factors, it will not be a surprise to see a surge in consumption,” As per report, steel demand, which almost disappeared last year, rose 6% in the past 2 months. Mr Rastogi in his Udyog Bhavan office said that as demand grows, Indian steelmakers are expected to double their combined capacity in the next 3 years. Capacity is expected to increase to as much as 124 million metric tonne by 2012 or at least 100 million tonne in the worst case scenario.

He further added that imports of steel increased 21% to 528,000 metric tonne last month from a year earlier. Some countries are offering prices lower than those in India, which is leading to the spurt in imports, without identifying the nations.

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