Indian cement production maintained is strong start to year, recording growth in April and May – although growth dropped back into single figures in May after four months of double-digit growth between January and April.
April growth was 16.51% year on year with production of 27.2 million t, while May production was 25.87 million t, a 5.2% increase on the previous year. Total production to date now stands at 134.9 million t, compared to 117.1 million t over the first five months of 2017.
The growth in cement production joins positive news from the coal industry, were production is also up, rising 16.0% and 12.1% in April and May, respectively. Coal production over the two months hit 112.6 million t.
Steel production has been more sluggish, however, although maintaining the positive trend. Production grew at 3.8% to 8.8 million t in April and 0.5% to 9.1 million t in May.