Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association (SIMA) Executive Director Deependra Kashiva has said the domestic sponge iron industry might report a negative growth in Q3 (October-December) of FY22 if the shortage of coal is allowed to continue.
As per the data by the Joint Plant Committee (JPC), under the Ministry of Steel, the sponge iron production growth in April-June 2021 was 70 percent, compared with January-March 2021. Kashiva said this is expected to come down by 60 percent to a level of 10 percent in the second quarter ended September 30, 2021, amid the ongoing coal crisis.
He further said ‘except for the power sector, we are stopping supply to all industry users, and sponge iron and cement are the two big consumers after the power sector.’ He said the production is coming down and the players are using the coal in their inventory but if the situation continues, the sponge iron industry will be in trouble. He noted that the industry consumes about 40 million tonnes of coal annually and has provided three lakh direct and indirect jobs.
