The steel industry, hit by slowdown in the last couple of years, is expecting to bounce back in 2015.
The industry is bogged down due to cyclone Hudhud mainly in the second-half of 2014.
Besides, the industry is faced with surging Chinese imports and sluggish domestic demand due to excess supply and slowdown in the construction and infrastructure sector.
Major and secondary producers such as SAIL, RINL, JSW, JSPL and Monnet Ispat have started adding capacity.
City-headquartered Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., the corporate entity of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, is ramping up new units under its 6.3-million tonne expansion project at a cost of Rs.12,500 crore. When contacted on threat of imports, RINL Director (Commercial) T. K. Chand underlined the need for cost reduction and quality.
He told The Hindu that “2015 may prove to be a year of turnaround for the steel industry with business sentiment firming up, and the government going ahead with its growth agenda.” He said the industry might be de-coupled from the global trend of slowdown, and was likely to register growth in tandem with GDP growth. Twenty industrial clusters such as Bengaluru-Mumbai as well as Vizag-Chennai, seven industrial cities and 100 smart cities are expected to accelerate growth in manufacturing. The rural market is also looking up for long producers.
It is estimated that around 17 million tonnes of additional capacity are likely to be added in the next 2-3 years, around five million tonnes on an average a year in long products as against the earlier average of maximum two million tonnes a year.
Source: The Hindu
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