Need to use more scrap for steel making in decarbonization push: Scindia

India is must increase the volume of vehicle scrap used in steel making in a bid to lower carbon emissions, Minister for Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia said Wednesday. Responding to queries from ET, he also said that instances of domestic steel industry facing injury due to imports have been flagged to him.

Commenting on the present state of the domestic steel industry and the threats from imports, Scindia said, “We are still a net exporter of steel. The steel that is coming in as imports is either speciality, or there is a pricing arbitrage.”

He pointed out that the large manufacturing capacity that has been put in place (referring to China), is idling due to their economy not growing at the projected rate.


“There is a situation of a huge excess capacity. Some of that steel is trying to make its way to India,” he said.

According to official estimates, India is producing 126 million tonnes (mt) of steel, and exporting 9 mt.,Imports are limited to roughly 6 mt. “The imports that are coming in are of not that great volume, but probably slightly more specialised that the steel produced inside the country,” Scindia said.

Domestic steel manufacturing sector players have been lobbying for import barriers to protect the industry from cheap Chinese exports.

“One or two cases have been brought to our light. We are studying it as we speak and will put up our recommendation to the Commerce and Industry Ministry,” Scindia said.

Green steel push
While the domestic steel industry is exporting and meeting local requirement, the global push for decarbonising comes across as a challenge. According to the National Steel Policy 2017, India needs to nearly double existing steel capacity to 300 mt. But the lack of consensus on what should be categorised as ‘Green Steel’ has complicated matters for the manufacturers.

According to Scindia, the definition of green steel has to be established on an international basis. He stated that in the interim, domestic steel companies must make sure they ‘mitigate the amount of carbon that is released in the air.’

He also said that end of life vehicles (ELVs) need to be recycled used for making steel. “Roughly about 25 mt of scrap is used in steel making in India. That needs to be increased because you have a reserve of ELVs between public and private sector,” Scindia said.