By IANS,
New Delhi : The government has initiated a study to assess the demand for steel in rural markets, Minister of State for Steel A. Sai Prathap said Friday in the Rajya Sabha.
According to him, consumption for steel has not been picking up in the rural areas because of low level of awareness about the varied benefits of using steel and the perception of steel as an expensive item among the villagers.
To assess the trends in consumption pattern of different steel items in rural areas, the study would cover 300 districts, 1,500 villages, 4,500 manufacturers and 8,000 retailers across the country.
“The study would examine the potential for increasing the level of steel consumption, the nature of shifts and the extent of threat of substitution from competing materials,” said the minister.
The ministry in a release said production of crude steel grew by 11 percent in 2009-2010 at 64.88 million tonnes over the previous year’s 58.44 million tonnes.