Steel demand in 2010-2011 to grow by 10%

Steel demand is seen rising by 10 percent in the fiscal year to March 2011, helped by higher spending on infrastructure, Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi said on Wednesday. "Steel demand will continue to rise because a lot of emphasis has been put in the budget on infrastructure development," Chaturvedi told reporters on the sidelines of a conference. India's budget for 2010/11, which was announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last Friday, proposed to invest Rs 173,000 crore on infrastructure, a measure cheered by the steel industry. "We expect about 10 percent increase (in steel demand) from the current year's level," he said, adding, he expects the current fiscal year's demand to rise 9 percent, higher than the earlier estimate of 8 percent. Steel production in the 2010/11 (April-March) fiscal year is likely to be 65 million tonnes, compared to 60-61 million tonnes in the current year, he added.