Steel demand likely to improve in coming months: Birender Singh

NEW DELHI: Steel demand is expected to improve in coming months on the back of increased spending on infrastructure and long-term government policies, Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has said.

"The steel demand has grown 3.3 per cent during April -December 2016. This is expected to improve in the coming months, due to longterm government policies and increase in infrastructure spend," the minister said.

India has been a bright spot in global economy, he said, adding that World Steel Association has predicted the steel demand in India will grow at the rate of 5.7 per cent in 2017.

The government of India, he said, has provided extensive support to the domestic steel industry by way of various trade remedial measures in recent times, such as minimum import prices (MIP), anti-dumping and safeguard measures and quality control.

"The current scenario in the steel sector is well known, and hence the government will take all necessary measures as and when required to support the industry," the minster said.

MIP, he said, was notified as an emergency measure as other trade remedial measures such as anti-dumping rules and safeguard rules are process oriented and are time consuming in terms of implementation and impact. "However, MIP was gradually phased out as and when suitable trade remedial measures were put in place," he added. As on date, 124 out of 173 tariff lines, initially notified as MIP, are covered under anti-dumping duties in addition to the safeguard duties on Hot Rolled Coils and Plates.

MIP has also been withdrawn on February 4, he added.

Meanwhile, Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) Managing Director and CEO Ravi Uppal said the company would commission the blast furnace at Angul, Odisha by early April to add an additional 3.5 million tonnes capacity. Besides, the company will continue with its assets sale strategy to improve its financial health and retire a huge Rs 45,600-crore debt, he added. JSPL managed to narrow down its consolidated net loss for the third quarter by 48 per cent to Rs 455 crore.

“We are heading towards a turnaround. We will commission the blast furnace at Angul, Odisha by next month or early April to add an additional 3.5 million tonnes capacity,” Uppal said.