The core sector production in April'20 contracted at its fastest pace in last 8 years

In view of the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic and the substantial production loss experienced by a number of industries, the core sector production in April'20 contracted at its fastest pace in the last 8 years. The production in the 8-core industries contracted by 38.1 per cent in April'20 compared with 5.2 per cent in the corresponding month a year ago.

Story: Shivani Sharma
Design: Pragati Srivastava

The growth in coal production declined to a 6-month low of 15.5 per cent in April'20 compared with growth of 4 per cent in March'20. Lower production can largely be attributed to lower power demand and build-up of inventories in the coal mines and power plants.

Production of crude oil continued to witness a contraction for 29th consecutive month. Crude oil production contracted by 6.4 per cent in April'20 largely on account of closure of some oil wells and restriction in labor movements for field operations.

Natural gas recorded double digit contraction of 19.9 per cent in April'20. Steep decline in the fuel consumption in April'20 and lower offtake of natural gas by consumers dragged production down in April.

Refineries recorded double digit contraction of 24 per cent. The contraction in both has been the highest since the start of the 2011-12 series.

Fertilizer production contracted by 4.5 per cent in April'20 compared with 12 per cent recorded a month ago. Shortage in raw material availability and labor constraints owing to the pandemic impacted fertilizer production.

The contraction in cement and steel production was the sharpest and the fall was more than 80 per cent in both industries. Halt in production of user industries like auto and construction led to contraction in steel production.

Halt in production of user industries like auto and construction led to contraction in steel production. Nation-wide lockdown and reverse labor migration had an impact on construction activities owing to which production of both cement and steel declined. Both the industries recorded the steepest fall since the start of the new series.

Electricity production also contracted at its fastest pace since the start of the new series at 22.8 per cent in April'20 owing to the fall in electricity demand from commercial and industrial sectors, which account for 50 per cent of the demand.