Indian Refractories Enter Stormy Waters

There are around 100 refractory manufacturing units located around India, of which only about 14 or 15 can be regarded large scale. The mid-sized portion of the industry accounts for a further 15-16 companies, and the remaining 70 units can all be termed as small scale. Throughout the second half of the 1990s refractory production fell nearly 800,000 tonnes in 1995-6 to a low of 689,780 tonnes in 1998-9. With capacity holding steady at approximately 1.5m tonnes, the utilisation rates being recorded by many companies remains at less than 50%.