September 06, 2008

Steel rich states to boom in the market

According to the experts, India’s eastern states like Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, which have more than 55% of total iron ore reserves, can take advantage of the emerging opportunities in the steel sector.

Mr Varun Jha VP of TATA Steel said that with Indian economy on the upswing steel would be the key sector to catapult these states. He added that “There is huge risk, if we do not take advantage of the opportunities.”

He said that steel demand of India will be 150 million tonnes by 2020, which will require crude steel production of about 175 million tonne. Significantly, most of the capacity additions will come from the Greenfield projects in the eastern states. Among the eastern states, Orissa is in an advantageous position and the political leaders and the executives need to change this opportunity into reality.

Mr UP Singh steel & mines secretary of Orissa said that there is huge scope for raising the per capita steel consumption in the country. It was 35 kilograms in India compared to 150 kilograms in the world and 250 kilograms in China. As per the revised target Government of India has fixed a target of 200 million tonnes steel production by 2020.

Regarding the current reserve of iron ore he said, the reserves in Orissa estimated at 5300 million tonnes is sufficient for production of 75 million ton steel over a period of 40 years.