Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of a new strain, Tata Steel is confident that there will be a rise in demand for steel in India in 2021.
"We are seeing an inflow of funds from across sectors and an uptick in the overall consumption. The government’s efforts of improving infrastructure, coupled with the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ policy and Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI), are expected to further boost this inflow,” MD and CEO of Tata Steel, TV Narendran, said on December 31 via a company statement.
Additionally, the government’s focus on rural infrastructure projects will also give an impetus to steel demand, he added.
"We believe that the steel demand in the country should grow at least at the rate of GDP growth or higher in FY22,” Narendran said.
On steel prices, he said that globally, prices were likely to stay firm as China was not expected to export large volumes owing to a better balance in their domestic market, and there were no other very significant exporters in the world market.
"We are optimistic about the overall demand for steel and hence the performance of the steel industry and Tata Steel," he said.
He added that currently, capacity utilisation of most of the steel producers in the country has improved and they have healthy order books.
"Most steel producers, including us, do prefer to sell more in the domestic market. Overall, the demand-supply situation favours steel producers with strong international prices. We are certainly back to where we were before the pandemic and we expect the trend to continue through FY22. The pandemic, however, is not behind us yet and we cannot let our guard down," he said.
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