Source: Xinhua| 2020-02-05 21:50:26|Editor: xuxin

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NEW DELHI, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- India has surpassed Japan in terms of annual steel production, becoming the second largest producer of crude steel in the world, after China.

As per data issued by the World Steel Association, India's crude steel production in 2018 was 109.3 million tonnes, an increase of 7.7 percent from 101.5 million tonnes in 2017, announced India's Ministry of Steel on Wednesday.

India produced 111.2 million tonnes of crude steel in 2019.

Meanwhile, Japan produced 99.3 million tonnes in 2019, down 4.8 percent from the previous year.

Speaking in the Indian Parliament Wednesday, Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan said that steel was a deregulated sector and the government of India did not set any annual targets for steel production.

Decision on quantity of steel production was taken by individual companies based on commercial considerations and market requirements, he added.