India Confident of Achieving 120 Million Ton Steel Production by 2012-13

Speaking at the international conference on "Clean, Green and Sustainable Technologies in Iron and Steel Making," PK Rastogi, Indian Secretary of Steel, said that the Indian steel sector is positioned to achieve its production target of 120 million tons by 2012-13. According to Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, TX), Rastogi said that the steel sector continued to grow despite the global economic crisis, and he was confident that the sector would achieve a production of 100 million tons by 2012.

He reported that while brownfield projects were progressing well, greenfield projects, which are expected to account for 16 million to 17 million tons of the overall production target, were facing a few problems. Rastogi said that steel companies have so far signed about 225 memoranda of understanding with various state governments, and their projects are at various stages of implementation. The memoranda represent a total investment of about $225 billion.

Rastogi said that the speedy recovery of the Indian steel sector has given rise to the hope that India will achieve an economic turnaround much earlier than other nations. He said that the renewed demand for steel was being driven by the automobile, infrastructure and white goods sectors. New demand is mostly being generated by the rural and semi-urban areas. The current monsoon season is affecting demand to some extent, but that is expected to remain a seasonal phenomenon.

Rastogi put the growth of the Indian steel sector in historical perspective. India's production and consumption of steel grew at an average 5 replace rate for many decades. The trend changed between 2002 and 2007, when the sector recorded a consumption increase of nearly 13 replace. However, production did not increase at the same pace. The global economic crisis affected the steel sector as well, and consumption fell 14 replace in the last quarter of 2008.

But the trend is again changing for the better, and the second quarter of 2009 saw production and consumption grow at 3.8 replace and 5.8 replace, respectively. Considering that consumption across the globe has not increased much, India's figures are very encouraging and signify a revival of the sector. Rastogi said that if growth could be sustained, India would achieve a growth figure in double digits. The revival of the steel sector was an indication of better economic conditions for the nation as well.

During the conference, Rastogi said that the Indian steel industry was limited by obsolete technologies and low quality of raw materials. Both factors contributed to lower production, increased energy consumption, and higher environmental emissions. At present, 5 replace of the man-made carbon-dioxide emissions are accounted for by the global steel industry. Rastogi encouraged the Indian steel industry to participate in the "CO2 Breakthrough Programme" initiated by the World Steel Association (Brussels, Belgium) to exchange information on long-term possibilities on futuristic technologies in the steel sector.