Core sector boom to fuel steel demand

The steel industry sees a huge surge in demand for steel from the construction segment.

Addressing a seminar, "Construction & Steel" organised by Steel Scenario, Shoeb Ahmed, executive director, CMO, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), said steel demand for 2004-05 was estimated to be 10.5 million tonne.

This implied that 30 per cent of steel consumption would come from the construction sector. "The current upsurge of demand has been led by construction demand where road projects, flyovers, housing have boosted overall demand," he said.

Surpiya Dasgupta, managing director, M N Dastur & Co, said, "With the ever increasing need for infrastructure in the country, steel is most likely to get a much stronger foothold particularly in urban dwellings where there is likely to be an investment of Rs 52,600 crore in housing according to the Ninth Plan working group."

However, he also pointed out that the present scenario indicated that the use of steel in Indian construction by way of bars, rods and structurals, plates, hot and cold coils and sheets, high-grade sheets, pipes and tubes has been negligible in comparison with other Asian countries.

In India, it is 20 per cent of total steel production compared to 80 per cent in Hong Kong, 65 per cent in Malaysia, 60 per cent in Singapore, 70 per cent in the Phillipines, 63 per cent in China, 50 per cent in Japan and Korea and 52 per cent in Taiwan.