Indian steelmakers to significantly increase output capacities

Wednesday, 03 August 2011 17:29:54 (GMT+3)   |  
       

The Indian parliament has stated that major domestic steel producers like SAIL, Tata Steel, RINL, JSW Steel, JSPL, Essar Steel, among others, are likely to add about 30 million mt per year of new steel capacity by March 2013, as reported by Indian business newspaper Business Standard on August 2.
 
In a written reply to Lok Sabha, India's lower house of parliament, Indian Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma said that a major contribution will come from state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which will add about 8.14 million mt per year capacity by the end of 2012-13. Verma added that, among the other major producers, JSW Steel's capacity will increase by 4.6 million mt per year, which includes 1.2 million mt of new capacity of Ispat Industries, acquired by the company in December last year. Similarly, another state-run firm Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is expected to add about 3.4 million mt of steel capacity in the next one and half years, the minister said.

On the other hand, fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer Essar Steel is expected to add 4.9 million mt capacity per year by 2012-13, while Tata Steel's total production capacity will increase by 3.2 million mt per year, the minister said. He added that Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) will increase its capacity by 2.6 million mt per year during the period, while another major company Bhushan Steel will expand its production capacity by three million mt per year.

Replying to a separate question, Minister Verma said that per capita steel consumption of the country increased by about eight percent to 55 kg per person in 2010-11, compared to the consumption of 51 kg per person in 2009-10, while in 2010-11 total iron ore exports of the country registered a decline of 17.26 percent year on year to 97.11 million mt.