Owing to a slowdown in the manufacturing sector and the ongoing economic crisis, leading steel manufacturer Ispat Industries Ltd is planning to cut production further by 10 percent by December.

The company's Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Vinod Mittal, told reporters on the sidelines on the India Economic Summit the company has already cut its production by up to 30 per cent in the current month, and would further cut it by up to 40%.

While Steel industry across the country is seeking 10 per cent import duty on steel products, the primary and secondary steel manufacturers opposed any increase in import duty. Steel industry said that international steel prices are coming down and some CIS countries and China are exporting steel at quite lower prices to secondary producers causing huge loss to domestic steel producers.

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Maharashtra Seamless Ltd, a leading seamless steel pipe maker, has informed that it has pocketed a contract worth Rs 757 crore from the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

According to the sources, the proposed order has been bagged for the supply of seamless casing pipes.

The sources further revealed that with this contract, the order-book of the conglomerate stood at Rs 1,370 crore.

According to the reports, in June, Maharashtra Seamless Ltd had won an export order of 45 million dollar from a US firm.

World slowdown has severely impacted the steel industry across the globe. Steel companies are facing slow demand following the decline in demand from automobile and real estate sector.

Many steel giants have decided to employ cost cutting measures including production cut and retrenchment of additional staff. Steel prices currently stand at $500 a tonne in the international market as compared to $1,250 a tonne in March-April.

Europe based steel giant, Corus has decided to cut production by 30 per cent following slow in demand.

The ongoing global financial crisis is badly impacting steel companies across the country. They are taking various cost cutting measures to cover their losses. Major steel companies such as JSW, Essar and Ispat Industries have already cut down their production due to steep decline in demand across various sectors.

CFO of JSW Steel, Sheshagiri Rao said that steel industry is dealing with low demand by announcing production cuts. He however said that that the situation would soon become normal.