SAIL’s first-half steel output barely grows despite strong demand outlook

New Delhi: State-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) reported just 1 percent growth in crude steel production to 9.6 million tonnes (MT) in April–September, showing limited momentum in output during the first half of FY27.

Hot metal production increased 2 percent year-on-year to 10.2 MT, while finished steel output edged up 1 percent to 8.39 MT, the company said in a statement.

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The modest expansion comes against a stronger demand outlook for the domestic steel industry. The World Steel Association’s April forecast projected Indian steel demand to grow 7.4 percent in 2026, supported by construction, infrastructure and automobile demand. While a calendar-year demand forecast is not directly comparable with SAIL’s half-year production, it highlights the growth opportunity against which the company’s performance will be assessed.

SAIL’s clearer improvement was in its production mix. Finished steel accounted for 89.2 percent of total saleable steel output, up from 86.8 percent a year earlier—a gain of 2.4 percentage points. The company did not disclose the absolute saleable steel production figure in the update provided.

A higher finished-steel share indicates more output reaching the finished-product stage. However, with finished steel volumes growing only marginally, the improvement does not by itself establish stronger earnings: selling prices, product composition and production costs remain crucial.

Dispatches of long rails to Indian Railways rose 7 percent, while those of wheels and axles increased 3 percent. These segments provided some momentum, although the company did not disclose their absolute dispatch volumes.

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SAIL, India’s largest public-sector steelmaker under the Ministry of Steel, has installed capacity exceeding 20 MT annually. Its first-half figures leave a central business question unanswered: how quickly can it translate improvements in production mix into sustained volume growth and better profitability?

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