New Delhi: With 62.41 million tonnes output, India remains the world's fourth largest steel producer in the first nine months of the current year, preceded by China, Japan and the US.
World Steel Association (WSA) data showed India's steel production grew by 1.8%, the second highest among the top four steel producing nations, during the January-September period from 61.27 MT in the same period last year.
India has been the world's fourth largest steel maker for the last four years. The order is likely to remain unchanged in current year too, an industry expert said.
During the first nine months, China produced 618 MT steel which is a little more than half of world's total production at 1,231 MT.
China logged 2.3% growth during the period. But its steel production remained static in September, as per data revealed by WSA, at 67.5 MT when compared with the same month last year.
Japan remained the remote second with 83.1 MT production during the nine-month period clocking just 0.8% growth over 82.4 MT production in the same period last year.
The US stood at the third spot with 66.33 MT production compared to 65.3 MT output during the January-September period of the last year.
Though the growth in world's third largest producing nation grew by 1.6% during the period, in September steel production in the US fell by 0.1% over the same month last year.
Russia and South Korea vie for the fifth slot with 53.4 MT and 53.2 MT output in the first nine months of the current year.
The balance is, however, tilted towards the Asian nation as it logged 9.4% growth, highest among major steel producing nations, in steel production during the period compared to Russia's 3.1%.
