India steel output up 2.5% at 30 MT in July-September, says report

During the said quarter last fiscal, large producers had jointly manufactured 18.39 MT steel, while the secondary industry produced 10.92 MT, it said.

During the quarter ended September 30, 2022, steel exports fell to 1.41 MT from 4.20 MT in the year ago period, registering a year-on-year (y-o-y) fall of 66.43 percent. The domestic consumption was 11.33 percent higher at 27.52 MT, as against 24.72 MT in July-September 2021.

On the outlook for the sector during the running October-December quarter, SteelMint said "the production is expected to increase in the quarter as mills have resumed production after a brief maintenance shut down taken in the last quarter."

According to SteelMint, exports will continue to remain low in the third quarter owing to the export duty and subdued global market because of high energy cost and inflation.

On May 21, the government hiked the duty on exports of iron ore by up to 50 percent and for a few steel intermediaries to 15 percent.

It also waived customs duty on the import of some raw materials, including coking coal and ferronickel, used by the steel industry. The move was aimed at increasing the availability of these raw materials for the domestic manufacturers.