India’s Nov steel production falls 3% on year amid weak demand

India’s crude steel production for November fell to 8.92 million mt, down 2.9% year on year and 1.8% lower against October, provisional data released earlier this week by the Joint Plant Committee showed.

Likewise, finished steel production in November fell to 7.80 million mt, 7% lower than in November 2018 and 5.4% down from October 2019, JPC data showed.

“The month post festive season is historically a lean month for the automotive industry. Consumer demand, especially for passenger vehicles, typically picks up in the year-end that is in December,” Veejay Ram Nakra, chief of sales and marketing of the automotive division at automaker Mahindra & Mahindra, said.

India’s Diwali festival, which fell on October 27 this year, typically sees widespread shopping in the weeks leading to the holiday.

JSW Steel said its crude steel output fell 7% on the year to 1.29 million mt in November as several of its blast furnaces that were shut in October due to a slowdown in automobile demand resumed operations in the last week of November.

Tata Motors said its vehicle production for November fell to 43,394 units, down 14.5% from a year ago.

Similar declines were seen in India’s finished steel trading activity as November imports stood at 429,000 mt, a 37% plunge on the year and down 31.8% from October.

JSW said its November production of rolled flat and long steel products stood at 909,000 mt and 299,000 mt, respectively. The former dipped 1% while the latter sank 14% against November 2018.

However, November’s steel exports rocketed to 867,000 mt, up 79.9% from the corresponding month in 2018, but down 8.8% from the prior month. The spike placed India as a net exporter of finished steel products for the fourth month running.

With the latest figures, India’s crude steel output from April to November hit 73.17 million mt, up 0.9% from the corresponding eight months of 2018.

As for finished steel production over April-November, it came to 67.53 million mt, up 1.9% from the year before.

April-November exports amounted to 5.75 million mt, up 33.5% on the year, while imports stood at 5.08 million mt, down 5.3% from the previous year.

“Such trends implied that India was a net exporter of total finished steel in April-November 2019,” the JPC said.
Source: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/market-insights/latest-news/metals/121019-indias-nov-steel-production-falls-3-on-year-amid-weak-demand