India is a market of opportunity says LN Mittal

By Our Corporate Bureau | 23 Jun 2005

Mumbai: India is a market of opportunity because of its population and low per capita steel consumption, says global steel tycoon, LN Mittal, chairman and CEO, Mittal Steel. He was addressing the World Steel Dynamics' annual strategy meet in New York on June 21, 2005.

Mittal said the biggest opportunity for GDP-driven growth in steel demand in the future would come from the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries. Mittal also said that he did not believe that China posed a threat to the world steel industry. He said that having witnessed the Chinese government's stringent control on capacity increase he was now far less concerned about the any threat from the Chinese steel industry.

He also said that China was not a natural exporter of steel since it was dependent on imported iron ore imports and suffered high energy costs, which precluded any long-term structural advantage.

Mittal said the steel industry's ability to create considerable value was proven in 2004. He highlighted two fundamental changes that have occurred in the industry's dynamics in the recent years — global demand had entered a new growth era driven largely by China's industrialisation and the significant consolidation had taken place leading to a stronger industry.

He said good progress had been made towards consolidation, particularly in North America and Europe where approximately 60 per cent of the market is now held by the top five companies.