Dragon dominates: Steel trade deficit for April to July widened to ₹11,592 crore, or 30% higher, for FY24. | Photo Credit: Reuters
One out of every three steel products imported into India is from China, indicating continued pressure on the domestic market and exports. The steel trade deficit for the April-July period widened to ₹11,592 crore, 30% higher than the ₹9,036 crore reported for FY24, a Steel Ministry report accessed by businessline showed. India was a net importer of steel.
Finished steel imports stood at ₹24,941 crore for the first four months, and 2.7 million tonne (mt) in volume terms – up 32% y-o-y. On the other hand, export of the metal stood at ₹13,349 crore, or 1.6 mt, down 41% y-o-y.
As per the report, global steel prices continued declining in July, with “prices coming down in major steel markets” due to local and global issues. “Barring few aberrations, prices of most of the finished steel products saw month-on-month and year-on-year decline in India, China, the U.S. and the European Union,” the Ministry said.
Chinese shipments
Shipments of the metal coming in from China stood at nearly 0.8 mt, up almost 42% y-o-y. Imports last year – for April-July period – were 0.57 mt. “China was the largest import market for India (30% share),” as per the report. Stainless and alloy steel imports from China accounted for 47% of the shipments in value terms or ₹3,921 crore (0.31 mt), and the balance 53% or ₹4,263 crore (0.5 mt) was from non-alloyed imports.
(The writer is with The Hindu Businessline)
