The Indian Ministry of Steel has stated that domestic finished steel production in the April-June quarter of the current Indian fiscal year rose by 3.4 percent to 13.98 million metric tons, from 13.53 million mt in the same quarter of the previous FY. Meanwhile, India's steel consumption moved up 5.2 percent to 12.83 million metric tons, from 12.2 million metric tons in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
However, in April-June Indian steel exports declined by 37.8 percent quarter on quarter from 1.032 million mt to 640,000 mt, while steel imports fell 5.3 percent quarter on quarter from 1.493 million metric tons to 1.414 million metric tons.
During April-June 2009, state-owned steel producer Steel Authority of India Limited's (SAIL) output of saleable steel rose by 3.73 percent to 3.06 million metric tons, compared to 2.95 million metric tons during April-June 2008. On the other hand, finished steel production at state-owned steelmaker RINL went up by 2.09 percent year on year, from 671,000 metric tons to 685,000 metric tons.
The World Steel Association predicts that India's steel use in 2009 will grow about 1.7 percent year on year, against 6.1 percent in 2008.