New Delhi: India outpaced all major steel producing nations, including China in terms growth rate till November last year, but its position in the world order may still remain at number four.
India had produced 70.115 million tonne (MT) steel till November 2012, clocking 4.2 percent growth over the first 11 months of the last year, according to the World Steel Association (WSA) data.
The second highest growth was recorded by the US at 3.2 percent, followed by Russia at 3 percent. China's steel production grew by 2.9 percent. In South Korea, it grew by 1.6 percent.
Steel production growth is unlikely to swing very far in the annual figure to be released by WSA a fortnight from now.
During the January-November period of 2011, India's steel production had grown by 5.6 percent to 66.056 MT.
Barring Japan, which was hit by a super cyclone, all the major steel producing nations had staged a better show in 2011, growing by up to 17.9 percent, compared to their January-November, 2012 performance.
The world order of steel production is also set to remain unchanged with China at the top, followed by Japan and the US, placing India at its last year's place - fourth.
Till November 2012, China produced 660.125 MT steel. Japan's production was at 98.658 MT and the US at 81.442 MT.
Russia and South Korea are closely contesting to be the fifth largest steel producer in the world. Till November 2012, Russia had produced 64.763 MT steel, and South Korea, 63.497 MT.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 06, 2013, 12:51