India's crude steel output rose by 2.56 per cent to 30.06 million tonne (MT) during the July-September period of the ongoing financial year.

As per research firm SteelMint, the top six steel makers -- SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JSPL, AMNS India and RINL -- produced 18.29 MT steel, the rest 11.77 MT came in from the secondary sector.

The country had produced 29.31 MT of steel during the same quarter in the preceding 2021-22 financial year, according the data shared by SteelMint.

During the said quarter last fiscal, large producers had jointly manufactured 18.39 MT steel, while the secondary industry produced 10.92 MT, it said. During the quarter ended September 30, 2022, steel exports fell to 1.41 MT from 4.20 MT in the year ago period, registering a year-on-year (y-o-y) fall of 66.43 per cent.

The domestic consumption was 11.33 per cent higher at 27.52 MT, as against 24.72 MT in July-September 2021. On the outlook for the sector during the running October-December quarter, SteelMint said "the production is expected to increase in the quarter as mills have resumed production after a brief maintenance shut down taken in the last quarter."

According to SteelMint exports will continue to remain low in the third quarter owing to the export duty and subdued global market because of high energy cost and inflation.

On May 21, the government hiked the duty on exports of iron ore by up to 50 per cent and for a few steel intermediaries to 15 per cent.

It also waived customs duty on the import of some raw materials, including coking coal and ferronickel, used by the steel industry.