India becomes 2nd largest stainless steel producer in world, overtaking Japan

India has pipped Japan to become the second largest stainless steel producer in the world after China, an industry body.

"Our sustained efforts in collaboration with industry has made this possible" the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) said. India overtook Japan as the second-largest producer in 2016, according to data released by the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) at their annual conference held on May 14-19, 2017 in Tokyo, Japan, ISSDA said in a statement.

ISSF is a non-profit research and development organisation founded in 1996 and serves as the focal point for the international stainless steel industry. India's stainless steel production rose to 3.32 million tonne for 2016 showing an impressive growth of about 9 per cent over 3 million tonnes in 2015, it added.

"This is a great moment for the Indian stainless steel industry. ISSDA urges continuous policy support from the government to take the Indian stainless steel industry to newer heights. ISSDA will continue to work with all stakeholders to promote stainless steel based solutions for sustainability and growth," ISSDA president K K Pahuja said.

"Several government initiatives like 'Make in India', smart cities, focus on improving sanitation and waste management facilities, building new infrastructure etc is likely to give a strong push to the stainless-steel industry in future," he further added.

"National Steel Policy released by the Ministry of Steel will give impetus for long term benefits. Increase in exports of stainless steel from India to the world market especially Europe and Americas has established Indian producers capable of producing quality material from their latest state of the art mills meeting stringent quality parameters," he said.

ISSDA is India's apex stainless steel industry association which has been leading key industry initiatives and causes to enhance domestic demand in architecture, building and construction, automotive, railways and transport together with the process industry.