Market Facts -- Tube India

The scenario of the tube and pipes market and metallurgy sector in India

The liberalisation of the economy by the Government of India in 1991 meant major reforms in de-licensing, price decontrol, lowering of import restrictions, lowering of duties and abolition of freight equalisation. This further led to an increase in the domestic production, home-grown companies going higher up in the value chain, in terms of quality and cost.

The fast pace of growth of the Indian economy has meant that raw materials have become the fuel to keep up the momentum of this growth. India is the 7th largest producer of steel in the world, the 5th largest producer of iron ore and is the 2nd largest producer of sponge iron in the world. In fact, the total production of finished carbon steel in the country was 40.65 million tonnes in 2005-06 as compared to 14.33 million tonnes in 1991-92. The demand for steel is anticipated to increase at 7 to 9% per annum up to 2015.

The following is the scenario within the metal sector:

- The total size of the steel tubes and pipes industry in the country is 50m Euros or Rs. 8,000 crores.
- India is the 9th largest producer of steel, the 5th largest producer of iron ore and the 4th largest exporter of iron ore and is also the 2nd largest producer of sponge iron in the world.
- From humble beginnings of 2,500 tonnes in the mid 1940’s, India has now soared to a total production during 2005-06 at 948,206 tonnes of aluminium, and export of around 133,530 tonnes.
- The Indian aluminium industry is expected to grow at 8 to 10% per annum over the next 5 years.
- The Indian copper industry is around 3% of the global market. It is expected that copper demand will continue to grow at the rate of 7 to 8% in the next couple of years.
- India has approximately 4.3% share in the total zinc smelter capacity in the Asia-Pacific region. About 70% of the Indian demand comes from the galvanizing sector. It may be said that the zinc industry in India, after privatization, will be heading towards a major expansion programme.
- By 2010, the country would become self-reliant to satisfy the domestic demand for zinc.
- Lead witnessed annual growth rates of 8% during the Tenth Five Year Plan.

Since energy consumption and inefficiency in Indian smelters have been major problems, there is ample scope for improvement in these areas. The current market figures show us that the international tube and metallurgy industry could use the Indian steel and metal industry to collaborate and source its requirements for meeting existing and new needs of the consumer industries, worldwide.

With this opening of the economy, there has been a remarkable growth in industries such as oil and gas, automobile industry and the overall infrastructure industry. To highlight these changes, growth and the constant innovations in the Tube and Pipes and metallurgy industries worldwide, the next edition of Tube India International and Metallurgy India brings together the best companies from both India and abroad. This exclusive platform is not only likely to attract overseas investment in this sector but will also establish India as a major manufacturing base.