The fortunes of the steel wire industry are closely linked to the fortunes of the primary steel industry. Internationally, steel makers prospects until 2015 are mixed, due to consolidations in most parts of the old industrial world; a resurgence of steel making capacity addition in the East (particularly in India), in Latin America (Brazil) and in the Middle East; a revitalisation of the Russian steel industry and continued massive expansion in China.

One factor stimulating new capacity is the technological revolution, which is sweeping the industry. The future of emerging market economies is looking bright. Developing countries, particularly the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), are very optimistic about their prospects since these economies are recovering and advancing more swiftly than many had envisaged. In 2009, China retained its position as the world¡¯s largest crude steel producer followed by Japan and the US. India occupied the fifth position for the fourth consecutive year.

It has been estimated that, India¡¯s steel consumption will continue to grow at an annual rate of nearly 16% until 2012, fuelled by demand for construction projects worth $1 trillion. The scope for raising the total consumption of steel is huge, given that per capita steel consumption is only 44.3 kilograms, compared to 190.4 kilograms across the world and 318.5 kilograms in China. The growth potential of the Indian steel Industry is demonstrated by the following graphic:

The Indian steel wire industry has an annual capacity of 2.5 million tonnes (value: Rs 8,000 crore) approximately. About 70% of the total production comes from the organised producers and the remainder is from the unorganised sector.

With such a growth in steel production, India is projected to be a net exporter of steel in the near future. The abundant availability of raw materials will provide a tremendous growth opportunity for the steel wire industry.
In 2008-09, the global wire business has been to the tune of 45-47 million tonnes valued at $25 billion. This market is expected to grow to about 54 million tonnes (mt) of wires by 2010 valued at $29 billion.

The steel wire industry in India is quite competitive in its production costs compared to other developed and developing countries. This cost competitiveness needs to be maintained by adoption of new and clean technologies, which will lower specific energy consumption and generate much lesser pollutants. We need to automate processes and focus on product quality and packaging to produce wires internationally acceptable.