Steel consumption growth in India in the first quarter is almost zero

Slow economic growth has been weighed down by low steel consumption in India, which increased by just 0.7 percent in the current fiscal year over the same period last fiscal year.

The Joint Committee said the country had consumed 67.253 million tonnes of steel in the current year and said that in India, real consumption of finished products rose 0.7 percent in the current period 2014 YoY. This was influenced, first of all, by the recession in the domestic economy and a sharp decline in imports. India's steel imports were down 31.1 percent over the period, while exports were up 8.1 percent to 5.045 million tonnes.

Consumption of finished products rose 1.8 percent in February to 6.174 million tonnes. Production of finished products in February 2014 increased by 5.3 percent to 7.016 million tonnes compared to February 2013. Major steelmakers in India contributed to a 10 percent increase in production, while whiter smaller businesses saw an increase of 5.5 percent.

India's economy grew 4.7 percent below expectations, helped by a fall in manufacturing in October-December. The country's gross product (GDP) expanded 4.8 percent in the last quarter of last year. The low level of growth in domestic steel consumption indicates that the conditions for the formation of the base level of demand are still difficult and tend to persist in the current year.