March 27, 2002
'18'
/BACKGROUNDER/
APPARENT CONSUMPTION OF STEEL
Apparent consumption of steel is arrived at by subtracting export of steel from the total of domestic production and import of steel in the country. Change in stock is also adjusted in arriving at the consumption figures. It is also treated as the actual domestic demand of steel in the country. The year-wise apparent consumption of finished steel since 1990-91 as shown in the annual report 2001-02 is given in the table below:
(in million tonnes)
Year |
Apparent Consumption |
1990-91 |
14.37 |
1991-92 |
14.83 (3.2 per cent) |
1992-93 |
15 (1.2 per cent) |
1993-94 |
15.32 (2 per cent) |
1994-95 |
18.66 (21.8 per cent) |
1995-96 |
21.65 (16 per cent) |
1996-97 |
22.13 (2.2 per cent) |
1997-98 |
22.63 (2.6 per cent) |
1998-99 |
23.54 (4.02 per cent) |
1999-2000 |
25.01 (6.24 per cent) |
2000-01 |
26.53 (6.08 per cent) |
2001-02 (Till November) |
17.33 |
(The figures in brackets indicate the %age increase over the previous year)
The apparent consumption of steel did not show any substantive increase in 2001-02(till November) mainly due to slowdown being faced by some of the steel using industries like automobile and engineering industries and construction. With the revival of the demand for automobile and engineering goods and general improvement in the economy, it is expected that consumption of steel will pick up.
India’s per capita crude steel consumption, as per the latest figures available is 27 kg, which is far below the level of other developed and developing countries-458 kg., 406 kg and 108 kg in USA, the EU and China respectively. With the ongoing economic liberalisation resulting in faster economic growth, steel consumption is expected to increase rapidly.