Indian finished steel imports surged in June quarter

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The latest statistics published by the Indian Steel Ministry indicates that the country’s imports of finished steel totaled 2.57 million tonnes during the quarter through June. China, Korea and Japan were the major suppliers during this period. The combined imports from these three countries accounted for nearly three-fourth of the total imports by the country.

The imports of finished steel from China totaled 723,160 tonnes during the June quarter. Korea was the second largest supplier with 302,560 tonnes, followed by Japan with 584,980 tonnes. The other major exporters of finished steel to India were Ukraine (95,340 tonnes), Germany (89,070 tonnes) and Indonesia (83,800 tonnes). The country’s annualized imports for the entire fiscal through March 2016 is projected at 10.28 million tonnes, significantly higher when compared with the actual imports of 9.32 million tonnes during the fiscal through March 2015.

The imports of steel into India have surged despite several regulatory measures. The country had hiked import duties on long and flat products by 2.5% effective June this year. Also, anti-dumping duties were imposed on hot rolled flat stainless steel imports from China, Malaysia and South Korea. It must be noted that Chinese steel imports had constituted nearly 40% of the Indian imports during the fiscal year through March 2015.

The domestic steel manufacturers in India observed that excessive imports of steel products have led to huge inventory levels. The excess steel availability is feared to cause further injury to domestic steel manufacturers, they noted. They urged the government to impose tight restrictions on steel imports in order to protect the country’s local steel industry.