Long Products Rise From Construction Rubble

8-10 percent growth likely for the rest of fiscal 2018-19.

- Madhumita Mookerji

India, being a developing economy (where typically the focus on infrastructure growth is strong), the long and the short of the matter is that the country has a more dominant role played by longs over flats in steel. Long products have been primarily driven by the growth in the construction and infrastructure sectors and, to some extent, by the automotive and engineering industries as well. But, primarily, construction activities in roads and bridges are boosting this category in India at present, thanks to the government’s emphasis on infrastructure construction.

During 2017-18, the long products share in India came to around 43 percent of the total production of finished steel. However, the share of long products in total apparent steel consumption (net of double counting) comes to 50 percent. The secondary players in India have the predominant share of the long products market (around 67 percent) and the balance 33 percent of the market is supplied by the integrated steel producers like Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL).

India has a production target of 300 mt of crude steel by 2030-31 (FY31). And the share of long products in that corpus is slated to be around 150 mt within this given time frame. Experts are betting big on infrastructure development, going forward, and they say this would definitely have a positive impact on the long side. The demand for finished steel by FY31 has been estimated at 230 mt, where the share of long products has been projected at around 55 percent.

India had produced 102.33 million tons of crude steel in financial year 2017-18. Finished steel production volume in India during the year was at 104.97 mt. Share of long products in the finished steel production pie in this fiscal was 43 percent, as per data.