INDIAN STEEL INDUSTRY WELCOMING INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS

Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma said that, "we are sure that our steel manufacturing capacity will increase from the present 134 million to 150 million by 2020".

In Nashik, India; the manufacturing capacity of country’s steel is anticipated to rise from present 134 million to 150 million tonnes by 2020, according to a senior official who also reported that the big international players who are willing to set up green-field steel projects will be welcomed by the government. Although no international players have yet registered for the project but are observing the market.

According to the Steel Secretary, Aruna Sharma; the earlier issues related to the green-field projects are now resolving and they are providing opportunities for setting up those projects. Not only this, but the sector provides future growth prospects against the circumstances of the country to become the second largest alloy producer of world with huge consumption.

International players like Posco, ArcelorMittal, Thyssenkrupp etc have their presence in the country specifically in Maharashtra where they have set up their units of value-added auto steel products but not working for back-end steel manufacturing. ArcelorMittal has a joint venture with SAIL (state-owned steel maker).

She also discussed the anti-dumping issue, where she said that measures are just to make sure that less than their cost of production nobody should dump steel. She further said that it is absolutely WTO compliant that lesser than the cost and anti-dumping duty China’s steel does not come here, even if the cost of production in China is much more than our safeguard value.

She also recommended that the industry should come up with new technology to decrease the use of coking coal in production of steel as India along with most of Asian countries minus China do not have much coking coal reserves. Other options which includes use of scrap for steel production are considered.

7 million tonne scrap to make steel is imported, so there is a recent market of 7 million tonne, she further added that new scrap policy should come out every year by the government.

• [Editor:mab]