1. Outlook
S
ince the dawn of civilization,
man has been making
Indian Steel continuous innovation in
various spheres of science &
Casting Industry
technology. The foundry industry,
by itself, is no exception to this.
Metal casting products include
- Arindam Kumar (DE), ferrous casting like grey iron.
ductile Iron, malleable iron, steel
V. K. Singh (DGM),
casting and various non-ferrous
Dr. H. Singh (DGM)
castings. Historically, Iron casting
and A. P. Singh (Jt. GM), products enjoy a dominant status
MECON LTD in manufacturing sector over steel
casting products. But in the recent
past, the requirements of industry
have changed with the
development & advancement of
new technology. Therefore, the
industry needs products having
improved metallurgical properties,
uniform micro structure, higher
hardness, lighter weight,
dimensional consistency & closer
tolerance. In this respect, steel
casting products have an edge over
iron casting products which
provide greater freedom of design
choices especially the complex
shape and hollow section parts.
The weight range of steel casting
product is larger compared to Iron
casting product. Casting weight
ranges from only a few grams in
case of molten mold precision
castings to the weight of large steel
castings of hundreds of tons. Steel
casting also has greater strength to
weight ratio compared to iron
casting. Thus, steel casting plays a
very important & specified role in
machine manufacturing sector. Its
use is increasing day by day with
the growth of industries. Keeping
in mind this backdrop, the present
article deals with the analysis of
market scenario of steel castings
and its future prospects in view of
widening industrial spectrum with
particular reference to the
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October machinery sector.

2. Outlook
Steel casting can be broadly production was 5.22 million tons in
classified into following three major 2003 which grew to 10.54 Million tons
categories in 2008 . During 2008-09 , Economies
l Steel Casting
Carbon worldwide were struggling with
lSteel Casting
Alloy recession, and the global steel
casting industry also felt the ripple
l Stainless Steel Casting
effects. The latest World Census of
The end uses of those steel castings Casting Production conducted by
are furnished in Table-1 MODERN CAST ING ,USA revealed
Categories Uses
CARBON STEEL CASTING
Cold chisels, Pneumatic drill bits, Wrencher, Rock drill, Share
High Carbon
blades, Hack saws ,mandrel ,leaf spring
Connecting rods, Gear shaft, Axels , Gear shaft, crank shaft, Axels,
Medium Carbon Crank pins, Set screw
Steel wire, sheets, rivets, screw, pipe, nail, chains, camshafts,
Low Carbon sheets , welded tubing
ALLOY STEEL CASTING
Silicon-Manganese Steel Punches and chisels.
Storage cylinders for liquefied gases, turbine blades, highly stress
Nickel steel screw, bolts and nut.
Axles, Crankshafts, connecting rod, Aircraft and heavy vehicle for 2009.This decline may be attributed
Chrome Nickel components. to the global industrial recession.
Aircraft landing gear, Coil and leaf springs, Fuselage, Pressure Fig-1 indicates that, China & India
Molybdenum Steel
vessels, Transmission gear witnessed substantial growth in Steel
Manganese Steel Power shovel buckets , Grinding and crushing machinery, Railway casting production from 2003 onwards,
tracks etc. due to their high rate growth in
STAINLESS STEEL CASTING manufacturing sector. The situation is
Aircraft industry (engine parts),Chemical processing (heat likely to improve in future years as
Austenitic exchanger) Lining for petroleum industry (engine parts) demand from the Automotive & Auto
Component sectors which are the
Heating elements for furnace, Interior decorative work, Screws &
Ferritic fittings, Oil burner parts etc. major consumer of casting product, is
expected to increase significantly.
Pumps & valve parts, Rules and tapes, Turbine buckets, Surgical
Martensitic The changing pattern of various
Instruments etc.
metal castings in the world has been
Market Analysis that global steel casting production indicated through Fig-2 and Fig-3
recorded decline from 10.55 million during the year 2003 and 2009
Steel castings Industry is
tons during 2008 to 9.03 million tons respectively.
considered to be the backbone of
engineering industry serving Fig. 1 : Countrywise Cast Steel Production
Automotive, Agricultural machinery,
Mining & construction equipments
industry and almost all downstream
engineering industry. The demand
scenario of steel castings is depicted
into the following paragraphs.
Global Scenario
A brief account of the global steel
castings production during 2000 to
2009 production is furnished in Fig-1.
Global steel castings production
witnessed a significant growth during
the period of 2003 to 2008. As per the
World Census of Casting Production
conducted by MODERN CAST ING,
USA revealed that global steel casting
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3. Outlook
Fig. 2 : Proportion of Various Metal Casting in 2003 Export
The countries where India is
exporting a substantial quantity of steel
castings are Germany, Czech Republic,
Finland, USA, UK,UAE ,Australia,
Singapore etc. Exports of steel casting
during the period 2003 to 2009 are
furnished in Fig-6. Steel casting export
grew steadily during the period of 2003
to 2007 .There has been a marginal
drop during the year 2008 and 2009 due
to worldwide economic and industrial
recession.
Foundry products have a vast
Fig. 3 : Proportion of Various Metal Casting in 2009 potential for exports to developed
countries especially to the USA, EU
countries, Japan etc..In all those
countries foundries are being
progressively closed down due to their
stringent environmental pollution
norms .Now they are on look out to shift
their manufacturing facilities else
where in countries like India, or china.
Under the circumstance, there is
immense scope for these products to be
exported from India.
Indian foundry industries need to
update their technologies in different
From the above figures, it is phases of casting production to meet
revealed that the share of steel casting
among the total metal casting has Fig. 5 : Imports of Steel Castings in India
increased substantially from 7% to 11%
during 2003 to 2009 and whereas share 88
83 83 83
of grey iron casting witnessed a drop to
47 % in 2009 from 54% in 2003. Other
69
castings saw a marginal increment.
This is because of the specified &
strategic application of steel castings 34 38
which replaced the application of grey
iron castings in various areas.
Foreign Trade
Foreign trade is an integral part of
an economy. The imports and exports
of a product depend upon many factors
including its indigenous availability and
quality of the products. The steel Fig. 6 : Exports of Steel Castings from India
casting is no exception of these facts.
Imports
The imports of Steel casting during
the period 2003 to 2009 are furnished
in Fig-5 . The lion share of import of
Steel castings belongs to Automobile
and Mining & construction equipment
manufacturing sectors. Countries from
where India is importing Steel casting
are China, Korea, Japan, Germany
,Italy, UK , Switzerland, etc.
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4. Outlook
the requirement of quality machined Rail Road
l (CAGR) of about 13%. Auto component
industrial casting with dimensional l & compressor
pumps manufacturer's association of India
accuracy and surface finish and also to l Market
other (ACMA) in their EY Vision 2020 has
add up capacities to cope up with projected the production of
Literature surveys reveal that about
increased demand automobiles for the milestone years
33 % of total steel castings are
Domestic Demand 2010,2015 and 2020 as furnished in
consumed by automobile sector. The
India is one among the fast growing Fig-7.
second largest consumer is pipe fittings
developing nations, the gross domestic & valves consuming around 20% of
product (GDP) has been rising at the total steel castings followed by
rate of about 8% to 9% every year since agricultural machinery and
2002. Manufacturing sector which is construction & mining sector
also growing at the rate of about 8% to consuming about 9 % & 6 %
10% from 2003 onwards plays a very respectively. The share of major
crucial role to the growth of Indian consuming industry of steel casting is
economy. With high and steady growth, furnished below through pie chart in
India is becoming the dream destination Fig-4
for investment to the various foreign Fig. 4 : Industry-wise Consumption of
companies. The Casting industry has Steel Casting
emerged as one of the major
contributor to the growth of
manufacturing industry in India. The
steel casting Industry of India which Pipe Fittings & Valve
was ranked 5 just a decade ago , has Pipe fittings include elbow, socket,
now moved to Nos 2 in world ranking union; bend and various types of
just behind the china. valves like ball valve, gate valve,
The apparent consumption of steel butterfly valve, check valve, air
casting for the period of 2003 to 2009 is release valve, Sluice valve etc.
furnished in Table-2. Industrial Pipe fittings & valves are
Table-2 : Estimated Apparent Consumption of Steel Casting (In 000 tons) mostly made of iron casting but now a
day's application of steel casting in
Year Production Import Export Apparent Consumption
pipe fittings & valves are increasing.
2003 465 34 140 359 The end-using industries of pipe
2004 581 38 129 490 fittings and valves viz process
2005 805 69 186 industries is expected to grow with
688
substantially higher growth rate. This
2006 914 83 192 805 may result into higher growth of pipe
2007 1000 88 205 883 fittings & valve in the future years
2008 910 83 137 856 than observed in the past.
2009 900 83 123 860 Agricultural Machinery
Traditionally ploughs were only
Table-2 reveals that consumption Looking into the share in demand
known agricultural machinery in India.
of steel casting has grown by about for steel casting by the various major
Then after “Green Revolution”
16% during 2003 to 2009. However, contributors like automobiles, pipe
combined with industrial growth put a
during the short term (2005 to 2009) fittings & valves, agricultural
thrust towards the development of
steel castings consumption could not machinery and construction and mining
Agricultural machinery sector in India.
retain its past growth performance equipment sectors, it is thought prudent
Indian agricultural machinery market
because of the wider base in to have an overview of these sectors as
had a total revenue of $ 2.8 Billion in
consumption during 2005. deliberated below Automobile Sector.
2010, reporting a compound annual
The domestic demand of steel Auto Industry in India consisting of growth rate (CAGR) of about 8.6% for
casting industry is driven by following commercial vehicles, passenger cars the period spanning 2006-2010.The
end-using sectors. and two / three wheelers plays a pivotal market forecast for the period of
l Automobile role in harnessing country's economy 2010-2015 is also predicted for very
l Pipe Fittings & Valve etc. and providing means of transport to high growth rate of about 7%. With this
million of people. This industry has high growth rate, market size for
l Agricultural Machinery
witnessed a steady growth for the agricultural machinery is expected to
l Construction & Mining equipments period spanning 2004-2010, reporting reach to $ 4 Billions by the end of
l I/c Engines a compounded annual growth rate 2015.
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5. Outlook
a p p a r e n t
consumption of
steel casting ranged
between 14.4% to
38.8% during the
period of 2003 to
2 0 0 9 . T h e
Government of
India is making
possible efforts to
boost the export. In
view of this, a
margin of export
Construction & Mining
provision is required to be added to
Equipment
arrive at aggregated demand. A share
Construction & Mining equipment of about 15% of the domestic demand
(MCE) cover a variety of machinery has been considered as export
such as hydraulic excavators ,wheel provision in demand and the resultant
loaders, backhoe loaders, bull dozers, demand for the terminal year has been
dumper, tippers, graders, breakers, worked out. The total demand (with
vibratory compactors, rope shovel etc, exports) for steel casting works out to
where steel casting found its extensive be around 1.8 Million tons and 2.2
application. This industry witnessed a Million tons for the milestone years
high growth (19%) in revenue during 2016-17 and 2019-20 respectively.
the period 2005 to 2008 (Refer Fig-9).
The projected
Fig. 9 : Revenue Growth of MCE Companies demand is furnished
graphically in Fig-
10
Fig. 10 : Projected Domestic Demand & Demand with Exports
of Steel Casting
Demand Estimation
In view of the past growth in
consumption of steel castings (around Supply Scenario level of mechanization & very limited
16% during 2003 to 2009) and future In order to analyze supply scenario in access to world class manufacturing /
prospects of major consuming India, the steel casting producers design tools & technology. This result
industries, the annual growth rate will were identified and their existing in average productivity in foundry
be about 10% up to the year 2012-13, capacity and past production were industry varies around 15-20 MT /
8% up to the year of 2016-17 and 7% up also analyzed based on available man / year where as the world
to 2019-20 and which has been information. Presently in India, total benchmark productivity is
considered to project a demand for 4600 nos. of foundries are operational. 100MT/man/year(in Germany). The
steel casting in India. The projected Most them fall under small & medium new upcoming units have potential to
steel castings demand arrived at is sector with few thousand tons of match world's best productivity. Many
furnished in Fig-10. annual production capacity operating foreign investments are also coming to
The exports as a percentage of with obsolete equipments, very low catch the lucrative Indian market .With
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28 Ø 2011
October

6. Outlook
all these investments it is expected available at reasonable prices to
that domestic production will be able domestic industry. Statutory
to match future domestic demand of clearance procedures need to be make
steel castings in India and increase its more streamlined which will boost
share in the overseas market. fresh domestic investment as well as
Conclusion foreign investment and also bring new
In view of rapid industrialization & technology with the investment. Thus,
development of advance technology with the joint efforts from Govt as well
based industry, the demand for steel as foundry -owner can push the Indian
casting is increasing day by day. With steel casting Industry to the new
globalization of economy, the Indian height from where it will contribute
foundry industry is facing stiff significantly to GDP as well as create
competition from their global counter enormous employment opportunities.
parts. Under this circumstance, the References :
indigenous manufacturer should make l Directorate General of Commercial
concerted effort on production of Intelligence and Statistics(DGCI&S),Govt of
value added components meeting the on new technology which will help not India
quality requirements of international only to improve productivity but also l Book of Material Science and
A Text
standard at cheaper prices. This will achieve world class quality Metallurgy-O P Khanna.
not only increase their share in the requirements. Role of the government l MODERN CAST ING Staff Report, USA
international market, but also is also pivotal towards the growth of
l component manufacturer's
Auto
minimize imports in the domestic steel casting industry .Government
association of India EY Vision 2020 5. ICRA
market. To meet the above objectives may streamline import duty
Rating Services
manufacturer may restructure & structure& lower the import duties on
renovate their present production line raw materials such as pig iron & metal l The Institute of Indian Foundrymen
and also fresh investment can be made scrap so that those key inputs will be
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30 Ø 2011
October