The country’s fuel demand picked up in July as the easing of pandemic-related restrictions accelerated economic activity, helping petrol consumption reach pre-Covid levels, preliminary sales data showed on Sunday.

State-owned fuel retailers sold 2.37 million tonnes of petrol in July, up 17 per cent from 2.03 million tonnes in the year-ago period. It was 3.56 per cent higher than pre-Covid petrol sales in July 2019.

Sales of diesel — the most used fuel in the country — rose 12.36 per cent to 5.45 million tonnes over 4.85 million tonnes sold in the previous year, but was down 10.9 per cent from July 2019.

This is the second straight month that showed a rise in consumption since March.

Fuel demand had recovered to near-normal levels in March before the onset of the second wave of Covid-19 infections led to the re-imposition of lockdowns in different states, stalling mobility and muting economic activity.

Consumption in May slumped to its lowest since August amid lockdowns and restrictions in several states. Fuel demand showed signs of resurgence in June after restrictions began to be eased and the economy gathered pace.

Consumption of LPG, the only fuel which showed growth even during the first lockdown because of free supplies by the government to the poor, rose 4.05 per cent year on year to 2.36 million tonnes in July. It was up 7.55 per cent over July 2019.

With airlines yet to resume full-scale operations because of travel restrictions around the globe, jet fuel sales at 2,91,100 tonnes was up 29.5 per cent year-on-year but 53.1 per cent lower than July of 2019.

Steel output

India’s crude steel production rose 21.4 per cent year-on-year to 9.4 million tonnes (mt) in June, according to the World Steel Association. The crude steel output was 6.9mt in the same month a year ago.

“The production for the 64 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 167.9mt on June 2021, an 11.6 per cent increase compared with June 2020,” the global industry body said in its latest report.

China remained the global leader in the production of steel in June, registering a 1.5 per cent year-on-year growth in output at 93.9 mt compared to 91.6mt last year.