Indian economy and steel sector in 2005

Indian economy and steel sector in 2005

According to the declarations by the Press Information Bureau of the Indian Government, India's exports are estimated to have surpassed $53 billion during the nine months of the current financial year and the export growth rate for the April-December period is around 23%. The government's objective regarding the export enhancement for the 2005-06 financial year is reaching to $88 billion p.a. Ores & minerals except coal and mica, petroleum products, are also among the sectors showing high growth of export. Whereas, the Economist forecasts 7.5% GDP growth and a figure reaching $701 billion for India in 2005. The magazine discusses that the communist parties of India would have negative impact on the market entry. However, major companies are increasingly continuing to sign agreements with the local governments. For example, Tata Steel has recently signed an agreement with West Bengal Body. Orissa and Visakhapatnam are popular investment regions for the companies such as POSCO, Tata and Arcelor. Being the 8th largest crude steel producer in the world, India produces approximately 4 million tones of pig iron and 33 million tones of finished carbon steel annually (and present total crude steel making capacity is over 34 million tones). In 2004, 43% of the finished steel production was performed by the main producers with integrated steel plants and the remaining 57% was by smaller business units. India imports approximately 1.65 million tones of steel annually which is in the quality of finished carbon steel mainly. Imports from China and Australia accounted for the ¼ of this figure. Continental Europe and the US are also among the main countries exporting to India. The export of finished carbon steel has almost reached to 5 million tones and pig iron to 500'000 tones in 2004. India prospects China as the major importer of Indian steel in 2005.