India Set to Lead Global Steel Demand Growth by 2025, Says CRISIL Report

NEW DELHI: Based on a recent report from CRISIL's Market Intelligence and Analytics, India is very much on the way to leading the steel-consuming list by 2025, with demand expected to increase by 8 to 9%.

Much of this expected growth in demand comes from the fact that there is a huge shift towards steel-based construction in the infrastructure and housing sectors as well as the rising demand in engineering, packaging, and other industries.

While the report indicates that overall demand in the country is expected to increase by 11%, it also raises concerns about domestic supply. The slower growth observed in 2024 was influenced by heightened competition from imports and a decline in exports. Specifically, finished steel imports surged by 24.5%, while exports fell by 6.4%, resulting in an excess of 3.2 million tonnes of finished steel in the market.

China has emerged as an important supplier of value-added steel products to India. Finished steel imports from the country have risen 2.4 times between 2022 and 2024. The imports of Hot Rolled Coil (HRC) have risen by 28 times during this period. Imports from Japan have also risen 2.8 times in 2024, while HRC imports from Japan rose 1.6 times.

Steel imports from South Korea had been rising modestly. Domestically, the rise in net imports contributed to a dip in domestic prices of steel-the HRC came down by 9% points and Cold Rolled Coil by 7%. The overall iron ore prices are expected to increase by around 9 to 10 per cent, although the spot premium low-volatility coking coal from Australia is expected to witness a decline by 12 percent in 2024.

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