Pariksha SaathiIndia's finished steel consumption nears 100 Mt in seven months: 99.3 million tonnes in April-October 2026, up 7.5 per cent
India's finished steel consumption was 99.3 million tonnes (Mt) in the seven months of April-October 2026, up 7.5 per cent from 92.4 Mt in the corresponding period last year, according to the Ministry of Steel's update of 5 November 2026, which is based on provisional JPC data. In October 2026 alone, consumption was 14.3 Mt against 13.4 Mt in October 2025, a rise of 6.6 per cent. On the production side, crude steel output in April-October 2026 was 99.1 Mt (up 2.6 per cent) and finished steel output 95.5 Mt (up 3.9 per cent). Finished steel imports in April-October 2026 were 4.90 Mt (up 28.9 per cent) and exports 3.98 Mt (up 15.5 per cent), and the Ministry said India was a net importer of finished steel in terms of quantity for the period. The update also says that, under the Ministry's Green Steel Initiative, 108 distinct steel producers have been issued Green Steel Certificates across the lists issued till October 2026, with a large majority of certified products receiving 5-star ratings, and that the Ministry has granted a Quality Control Order (QCO) compliance exemption, valid until 31 March 2027, for 162 grades of semi-finished stainless steel products covered under IS 14650, to address MSME concerns.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
Under the Ministry of Steel's Taxonomy of Green Steel, 'green steel' is defined in terms of the percentage greenness of steel produced from a steel plant with a CO2-equivalent emission intensity of less than 2.2 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of finished steel (tfs); the greenness is expressed as a percentage, based on how much lower the plant's emission intensity is than the 2.2 t-CO2e/tfs threshold. Steel with an emission intensity lower than 1.6 t-CO2e/tfs is rated five-star green steel, between 1.6 and 2.0 four-star, and between 2.0 and 2.2 three-star; steel with an emission intensity higher than 2.2 t-CO2e/tfs is not eligible for a green rating, and the threshold limits for the star rating are to be reviewed every three years. According to the Ministry's page, during FY 2025-26, 90 steel units were awarded green steel certification under the notified Green Steel Taxonomy Framework, accounting for a total green steel production of 12.4 million tonnes.
Reference: Ministry of Steel, 'Green Steel Initiative' - Taxonomy of Green Steel (steel.gov.in)
Check yourself: below what emission intensity is steel rated five-star green steel under the Taxonomy of Green Steel, and above what intensity is steel not eligible for any green rating?
Below 1.6 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of finished steel; above 2.2 t-CO2e/tfs.
Revision task: from this release, note the April-October 2026 consumption and the figure it is compared with, the October 2026 consumption, crude and finished steel production, imports and exports, the net trade position, the number of producers with Green Steel Certificates and the QCO exemption; from the note, the threshold for green steel, the three star bands and how often they are reviewed. Remember that 99.3 Mt is consumption and 99.1 Mt is crude steel production.
Test yourself
According to the Ministry of Steel's update of 5 November 2026, what was India's finished steel consumption in April-October 2026?
Show the answer
Answer: 99.3 million tonnes
Finished steel consumption was 99.3 Mt in April-October 2026, up 7.5 per cent from 92.4 Mt in the corresponding period last year. The figures 95.5 Mt and 99.1 Mt are the finished steel production and crude steel production of April-October 2026.
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