Page 7 - Steel Metallurgy eMagazine Volume June 2024

From The Desk

WITH MR. MODI IN CHARGE YET
AGAIN OUR INFRA PROJECTS ARE
BOUND TO BE ON A FAST TRACK

uring the month of May, 2024 India produced by Ministry of Steel Government of India, India’s finished
around 12.2 million tonnes of steel while steel imports stood at 8.3 million tonnes during FY24
DChina produced 92.9 million tonnes and Japan which is an increase of 38% year on year. The major
produced 7.2 million tonnes. India was the only large imports were attributed to China, South Korea, Japan
steel producing country other than Turkey and Iran and Vietnam. In terms of products, the major imports of
who reflected a substantial growth during the period of almost 95% were flat products which also indicate that
January - May, 2023 with an impressive figure of 7.7% India lost out on value added products.
while China reflected a negative growth of (-) 1.4%. Even
Japan projected a negative growth of (-) 2.3% and the Other than China, Vietnam seems to be a major threat
United States also registered a negative growth of (-) 2.4% which incidentally was earlier the second largest importer
during this period. of Indian steel, and today the country is a net exporter
to India. In spite of such veiled threats our economy has
While the Indian steel industry continues to be a star always been resilient and Indian steel consumption has
in the galaxy of major steel producers there is indeed a been increasing steadily reflecting the country’s expanding
reason to worry if we look at the recent trends. infrastructure growth.

During the fiscal 2024 India became a net importer of With the new government and its ministries taking up
steel with a trade deficit of 1.1 million tonnes marking responsibilities to place the infrastructure projects on a
a shift in its status as a net exporter to a net importer, fast growth track, we are confident that we will continue
since the fiscal 2017. International trade has definitely to grow at a rate higher than our GDP growth and we
been affected by a weak global demand and competitive wish the new government a successful and stable five year
Chinese steel prices which have negatively impacted term. Jai Hind!
India’s exports. According to provisional data provided

Editor-in-Chief