India’s crude steel production in April this year was recorded at 2.8 million mt, down 70 percent year on year, according to the provisional data of Joint Plant Committee (JPC) under Ministry of Steel and the sole compiler of the industry data.
It should be noted that the country was under a full lockdown in April to check the spread of Covid-19 and, though steel companies were permitted to operate under the ‘essential services’ categories, several steel mills sharply reduced capacity utilizations levels.
Indian steel demand contracted by 91 percent during the month compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, the JPC report said.
The report attributed the fall in demand mainly due to muted demand from the automobile and real estate sectors, which together accounted for 80 percent of aggregate steel demand in the country, and added that these sectors are unlikely to witness any surge in demand in the near term as the sectors’ operations are likely to be impacted by a labor shortage and supply chain constraints.