Steel production up 7.9% in FY'15 at 88.12 MT

India's steel production rose by 7.9 per cent to 88.12 million tonnes last fiscal compared with the previous year, according to a report.
Despite increase in steel output, imports have surged by 71 per cent to record 9.32 million tonnes in 2014-15 fiscal, the Joint Plant Committee (JPC), a unit of the Steel Ministry, said in a report.
However, exports of the commodity dipped by 8.1 per cent to 5.5 million tonnes during the period under review.
Real consumption of steel in the last fiscal stood at 76.35 million tonnes, an increase of 3.1 per cent over the year-ago period.

"The integrated steel plants (SAIL, RINL, TSL, Essar Steel, JSW Steel and JSPL) together produced 45.311 MT in 2014-15, which was a growth of 2.4 per cent compared to last year. While, the rest producers produced 42.813 MT during 2014-15, which was a growth of 14.3 per cent compared to last year," the report added.
Hot metal production stood at 46.13 million tonnes, a rise of 7.3 per cent. Pig iron production clocked 22.1 per cent rise at 9.70 million tonne in FY'15.

The steel sector contributes nearly two per cent in the country's GDP and employs over six lakh people.

India has already overtaken the US to become the third- largest steel producer in the world with a production of 14.56 million tonnes in first two months of the year.
However, the massive jump in imports from 5.45 MT in 2013-14 to 9.32 million tonnes in 2014-15 has been a major concern for the Indian steel sector.
The government is considering to raise import duty to combat cheap steel imports from countries like China.