Steel production grew in the month of October but demand in the country fell for the second consecutive month in October -- a development that does not bode well for the industry already reeling under subdued business sentiment. 

Steel output rose by 11.8% to 8.23 MT last month over October 2015 but steel consumption in the world's third largest producer of the metal fell by 0.5% to 7.11 million tonnes last month compared to September 2016, while on a year-on-year basis, it fell by 1.4% over October 2015, latest data from the Steel Ministry's Joint Plant Committee (JPC) showed.

 

Steel consumption in September 2016 stood at 6.73 MT, a decline of 7.7% over the previous month. However, as compared to September 2015, it rose by 7.6%. 

On the brighter side, the demand for the metal during the April-October period this fiscal rose by 2.8% to 48.09 MT compared to the same period of 2015-16. 

Another silver lining is contraction in steel import, which has been a major headache for the sector. 

Imports of the metal in October 2016 fell by 55% to 0.54 MT against October 2015 and by 12.4% compared to September 2016. 

During April-October 2016-17, imports registered a decline of 40% to 4.14 MT compared to the year-ago period. 

Another positive development is the healthy 95% jump in exports to 0.54 MT in October 2016 over October 2015, however, on a month-on-month basis, the outbound shipments contracted by 18.2% over September 2016. 

Steel exports rose by 42% in April-October 2016-17 to 3.57 MT over same period of last fiscal. 

In terms of production, during April-October 2016-17, output stood at 56.22 MT, a growth of 8.1% compared to the year-ago period.