Indian crude steel production capacity stands at 72.76 million mt

Friday, 12 March 2010 10:29:26 (GMT+2)

The existing crude steel production capacity of steel plants in India is 72.76 million metric tons, according to state minister for steel Shri A.Sai Prathap. The minister said today that no report of reduction in production capacity has been brought to the notice of the government.

Mr. Prathap said that different steelmakers follow different technologies and are placed differently in the industry cost curve. They are also impacted differently by external factors related to costs. Since raw material, power, finance and wages comprise the bulk of the costs of steelmaking and, in view of the fact that the prices of major raw materials such as coking coal, met coke, iron ore, manganese ore, steel melting scrap, ferroalloys, interest rates and wages have risen in the recent past, the steelmakers are likely to have witnessed a rise in their cost of production of steel.

Since the steel industry is deregulated, the Indian government does not have a direct role to play to reduce the cost of production. However, the minister said that the government initiates suitable policy measures from time to time with a view to creating a level playing field, to boosting the steel industry and also protecting the interests of steel consumers.

In order to keep the cost of imported raw materials low, the Indian government has already brought down the import duty on various raw materials used in the steel industry to either zero or very low levels.

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