The main steel makers also managed to reduce their stocks of saleable steel by 0.218mt by September 30, 1998, from the figure on the same date last year. However, pig iron stocks have increased by 0.095mt during the same period. In September alone, they reduced their saleable steel stock by 0.177mt.

The main steel makers are the government-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd and its subsidiary Indian Iron & Steel Co, Vizag Steel Plant of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and the private sector Tata Iron & Steel Co. Consumption of finished steel has increased from 10.654mt during the first half of the 1997-98 to 11.257mt during the first half of the current fiscal, while that of pig iron dropped from 1.301mt to 1.244mt. However, production ofsaleable steel by the major steel makers during the first half fell by 0.251mt on the same period of the previous fiscal, and production of finished steel by 0.331mt.

Consumption of finished steel has increased despite the fact that the economy is not picking up and the growth rate of industrial sector has plummeted from 4.2 per cent in 1997-98 to 2.7 per cent during the first half of the current fiscal, said a senior official of the JPC.

According to the JPC figures, SAIL's saleable steel stocks decreased gradually from 1.300mt on April 1, 1998, to 1.107mt at the beginning of September and to 0.975mt at the end of September.

The figures for Indian Iron & Steel Co were 0.043mt, 0.040mt and 0.047mt respectively. Tisco's saleable steel stocks increased from 0.147mt on April 1 to 0.216mt at the beginning of September and then dropped to 0.203mt on September 30. Saleable steel stocks of RINL went up from 0.291mt on April 1 to 0.377mt at the beginning of September and then fell to 0.338mt on September 30.Thus, the saleable steel inventory of the major steel makers together shows a decline from 1.781mt on April 1 to 1.740mt on September 1 and to 1.563mt on September 30.

The JPC official said that it has no exact record of stock of the secondary producers, but added that they have also performed better during the first six months of the current fiscal.