The steel industry in India has entered 2021 with output figures that are showing healthy growth and production that has exceeded year-ago output.
New Delhi-based Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) says it “achieved the best ever quarterly production of hot metal, crude steel and saleable steel” in the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2020, which is the third quarter of its 2021 fiscal year.
The company says it produced 4.37 million metric tons of crude steel, representing 9 percent growth over the same time frame in 2019. SAIL’s 4.8 million metric tons of hot metal made in late 2020 was 12 percent more than it made in the comparable quarter in the 2019 calendar year.
“During this financial year, the company has continuously enhanced its production volumes,” says Smt. Soma Mondal, chair of SAIL. “The first quarter was impacted due to the onset of the pandemic but gradually we have scaled up our performance by enhancing the volumes. It is heartening that pre-COVID levels have already been reached and the production has grown over [the comparable quarter the previous fiscal year],” she adds.
“The consistent growth reflects that SAIL is poised to grow steadily in future," she continues. “The domestic steel consumption has a positive outlook as the economy is reviving and all sectors have started to pick up. We are confident of seizing the unfolding opportunities in the steel market.”
A Jan. 10 online article by the New Delhi-based Business Standard lists SAIL as one of four India-based producers—along with Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), JSW Steel, SAIL and Tata Steel India—that “jointly produced 14.95 million metric tons of steel in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal year, registering a 6 percent year-on-year rise.”
SAIL exceeded that average with its 9 percent growth, while Mumbai-based Tata Steel India was the single-largest producer in the timeframe, with 4.6 million metric tons of output in the quarter.