India steel output at 35.6 MT in Jan-June, 1/10th of China

India's steel production in the first six months of the current year stood at 35.636 million tonnes, almost one-tenth of neighbouring China's total output during the same period.

According to the World Steel Association (WSA), production of steel in China during the January-June period of the current year stood at 350.543 MT, almost half of world output during the same period and the single highest by any country.

Worldwide production of steel during the January-June period of the current year stood at 757.771 MT. Japan was the second biggest contributor during the period, with production of 54.071 MT, followed by the US with an output of 42.654 MT.

While India's production during the first six months grew by 4.8 per cent from 33.994 MT in the corresponding period last year, China recorded 9.6 per cent growth in output during the period from 319.881

MT in the same period last year.

India produced 5.960 MT of steel in June, 5.876 MT in May, 6.150 MT in April, 6.350 MT in March, 5.100 MT in February and 5.610 MT in January this year.

India's total production, at 35.636 MT, is the fourth highest among the steel producing nations of the world.

Russia followed closely behind, with production of 34.580 MT in the January-June, 2011, period. India slipped one step to become the fourth largest steel producer in the world in 2010, with 68.3 MT of production. India had produced 63.5 MT steel in 2009.

Marching past India and Russia, the US became the third largest producer of the alloy in 2010, with an output of 80.5 MT. It was the fifth largest steel-maker in 2009.