India’s steel production grew 3.5% to 8.36 MT in July

The Dollar Business Bureau

The crude steel production in India increased by 3.5% to 8.36 million tonnes in July this year, compared to the 8.08 million tonnes output in the same month last year, according to the latest data by international trade body World Steel Association.

Domestic output during the period January-July 2017 grew 5.4% to 58.01 million tonnes compared to 55.07 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year, the data showed.

Global steel output for the 67 nations reporting to World Steel Association was 143.24 million tonnes in the month of July this year, witnessing a growth of 6.3% over the same month last year. In July 2016, global steel production stood at 134.798 million tonnes.

During the first seven months of this year, steel production globally stood at 977.32 million tonnes, an increase of 4.6% over 933.97 million tonnes during the same period last year.

Production in China, the world’s largest steel producer, was 74.021 million tonnes in July, registering an increase of 10.3% over the same month a year ago when the country’s steel production stood at 67.12 million tonnes.

On the other hand, Japan, the second largest steel producer in the world, has witnessed a decline in its steel output. The steel producing in the country was 8.588 million tonnes steel, a drop of 4.3% compared to 8.971 million tonnes a year ago.

The crude steel production in the US was 7.07 million tonnes in the said month, grew 5.6% from 6.69 million tonnes in the year-ago month.

“The crude steel capacity utilisation ratio of the 67 countries in July 2017 was 72.1%. This is 3.2 percentage points higher than July 2016. Compared to June 2017, it is 1.5 percentage points lower,” World Steel Association said.

India has surpassed the US to become the third largest steel producing nation in the world and is now looking to take the second spot, replacing Japan.

Earlier, India’s Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh had said that the country is heading to become the world’s second largest producer of steel.

“If you see what India produced last was 100 million tonnes and Japan 104 million tonnes. Soon, we will be the second largest steel producer in the world,” he had said.