Crude steel output up 6 pc to 8.73 MT in July

India's crude steel output grew six per cent to 8.73 million tonne (MT) during July 2018, according to an official data.

The country had produced 8.22 MT crude steel during the same month a year ago, Joint Plant Committee (JPC) said in its latest report.

JPC, under Ministry of Steel, is the only institution in the country that collects and maintains data on the domestic iron and steel sector.

State-run SAIL, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), Tata Steel, Essar Steel, JSW Steel and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) together produced 5.23 MT during July. This was 9.48 per cent more compared to 4.78 MT the six players had produced in July 2017.

The contribution of other producers also grew 1.4 per cent to 3.49 MT during the month, it added.

The output of hot metal was at 5.94 MT as compared to 5.44 MT in the year-ago month. While 4.98 MT was produced by the six companies, the rest 0.96 MT came from other producers.

Output of pig iron rose 9 per cent to 0.49 MT from 0.45 MT in July 2017.

According to World Steel Organisation (worldsteel), India outstripped Japan to become the second largest steel producer as its steel output grew 3.43 per cent to 8.43 MT in February against 8.29 MT of the latter.

India has set a target of producing 300 MT crude steel by 2030 with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore.