India looks to become the second largest steel producer
The Indian Government is reported to be taking measures that would pitch the country as the world's second largest producer of steel. The Union Minister for Steel, Birender Singh said the Government is adopting steps to enhance production from the country, with the aim of generating nearly 200 million tonnes of steel next year. At present, India is the third largest steel producer globally.
India's steel industry
After liberalisation came into effect in 1991, India's steel industry charted a new growth wave with massive production increases over the last two decades. Since price regulation for steel was abolished in the early 1990s, prices are now governed by market demand. Over the last six years, production for steel has increased from 68.62 million tonnes in 2010 to 91.46 million tonnes in 2015.
India's steel industry: Exports and imports
With India's steel production capacity pitched at 109.85 million tonnes in 2015, the World Steel Association ranked it as the world's third largest producer of steel. Employing over 6,00,000 people and contributing to nearly 2% of India's GDP, the steel industry clocked exports of about 5.59 million tonnes of steel in 2015. India also imported around 9.32 million tonnes of steel in 2015.
Indian Government set to spend Rs.62,000 crore to boost production
"The Central Government has started taking steps to boost the country's steel production. Rs.62,000 crore will be spent to enhance the production capacity of steel manufacturing plants," Singh said, adding that they look to achieve the position over the next two to three years.
Charting massive steel production globally
The apex body governing steel production globally, the World Steel Association, capped steel production in June 2016 for 66 countries globally at about 136 million tonnes. Over the last six months, it was reported at around 794.8 million tonnes, dipping slightly from the same period last year. China, Japan, Turkey and Russia were some of the countries that witnessed an increase in steel production.
Top players in the global steel industry
Lakshmi Mittal-owned Arcelor Mittal ranks as the top global producer of steel, clocking nearly 97.136 tonnes of steel in 2015. Other top players in the industry are China-based Hesteel Group, Japanese Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal Corporation and the Tata Steel Group.
