India produced 64.3 MT crude steel in Apr-Oct FY'20: Survey

India produced 64.3 million tonne (MT) of crude steel and 59.73 MT of finished steel during April-October, 2019-20, said the Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Friday. The Survey also noted that the steel sector achieved a growth of 5.2 per cent during April-November period of the ongoing financial year as compared to 3.6 per cent in the year-ago period.

"During 2018-19, India produced 109.2 MT of crude steel and in the current financial year (FY) till October 2019, crude steel production was 64.3 MT, displaying a growth of 1.5 per cent over corresponding period of last year with utilization capacity of 77.4 per cent," the Economic Survey 2019-20 said. Similarly, production of finished steel was 137.2 MT in 2018-19 and 59.73 MT during April-October 2019, it noted.

The Survey further said as per RBI studies on corporate performance, demand conditions for the manufacturing sector weakened in second quarter of 2019-20, with a contraction year-on-year in nominal sales. "Petroleum products, iron and steel, motor vehicles and other transport equipment companies were the major contributors to slowdown," it said.