(FE)
At the Third position in steel output over the last three years, India is within striking distance of dislodging Japan as the second largest producer of steel. However, the jump would still leave it far behind China which, with 831.7 MT, accounted for 49.2% of the global output of 1,692 MT in 2017.
The gap in production between Japan and India was almost reduced to naught in the first month of the current year. This followed a consistent pattern since 2013 when Japan’s output of 100.5 MT of steel was a good 29 MT higher than India’s. The gap came down to 3.4 MT in 2017 — Japan produced 104.7 MT of steel last year compared to India’s 101.4 MT. Significantly, while India’s output grew 6.2% in 2017, Japan’s fell marginally in the year.
It was in 2015 that India had grabbed the third slot in steel output from the United States. Analysts believe India will go past Japan’s production by a significant margin in the current year. This is because while Japan’s output has been declining for the last several years, India’s has been growing steadily. Significantly, the National Steel Policy approved in May last year targets an installed capacity of 300 MT by 2030-31, from 130 MT at present.
