With the automotive industry yet to witness any strong signs of revival, experts believe flat products demand to remain under pressure till March 2010. However, demand for long products is expected to increase at 7-8% in the current quarter with increased focus on infrastructure.

Long products are used mainly in construction and infrastructure space, whereas flat steel is used in manufacturing home appliances and automobiles, amongst others.

Players like Essar Steel and Ispat Industries which are into flat products are facing the heat of low demand, say industry watchers.

Meanwhile, JSW Steel, which is into both long and flat products business, is shifting its focus to long products.

In March, JSW Steel commissioned a 0.9 million tonne per annum (mtpa) bar mill in Vijayanagar to take its total long products capacity to 2.5 mtpa.

JSW Steel?s fourth-quarter production figures reveal its long products output jumped 49% quarter-on-quarter to 1.34 lakh tonne. It has a 0.9 million tonne per annum long steel unit in Salem.

Similarly, Tata Steel had also reported a growth of 25% in the sales of long product to 2 million tonne (mt) in FY09 from 1.60 mt in FY08, whereas its flat product sales grew 1.25% to 3.22 mt during the year from 3.18 mt in FY08.

Says Anil Surekha, executive director-finance, Ispat Industries Ltd, ?We will be commissioning the upgradation of our 2 million tonne blast furnace very soon. As far as demand is concerned, it is picking up but at the same time, a lot of import is also coming into the country.?

Similarly another steel manufacturer requesting for anonymity said, ?The demand for flat product seems to be satisfactory; however price is still an issue as from January onwards, a lot of dumping is taking place, which is impacting the supplies. For the current quarter, prices will remain stable,? he adds.

According to the experts, India remains relatively better placed on the demand side than many other countries where the demand has collapsed lower than expected. Global demand according to Macquarie is estimated at 12% for 2009 whereas, Indian steel demand has been steady and is estimated to grow at 4-5% in 2009.