India's small steelmakers face production cuts amid LNG shortages

NEW DELHI, March 10 (Reuters): Scores of small Indian steel producers have warned of production cuts as the escalating Middle East conflict disrupts gas supplies to the world's biggest producer of the alloy after China, industry officials said.

"We are looking at a 50 per cent production cut as of now and a complete halt ahead, if supplies don't improve within a week," Yogesh Kanakiya, director at Triveni Iron and Steel Industries, told Reuters.

Triveni Iron and Steel Industries is based in the western state of Gujarat, the country's largest gas-consuming region, which relies on the Middle East for much of its liquefied natural gas.

Several small steel mills in Gujarat depend on imported LNG.