India ranks as second largest steel producer of crude steel: Pradhan

India now ranks as the second-largest producer of crude steel after China, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday.

India's crude steel production in 2018 was at 109.3 million tonnes, up by 7.7 percent from 101.5 million tonnes in 2017.

This moved up to 111.2 million tonnes in 2019, Pradhan told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply quoting data from the World Steel Association.

On the other hand, Japan ranks third globally with 104.3 million tonnes of crude steel production in 2018 and 99.3 million tonnes in 2019.

In contrast, China remains number one with 920 million tonnes of production in 2018 and 996.3 million tonnes in 2019. The United States and South Korea rank fourth and fifth respectively.

Pradhan said the government does not set any annual targets for steel production as it is a deregulated sector.

"The decision on the quantity of steel production is taken by individual companies based on commercial considerations and market requirements," he said.

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