India's scrap steel imports surged 27% to hit 5-months' high

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The most recent statistics published by the Directorate General of Commerce Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S) under the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India indicates significant rebound in scrap import volumes by the country during November last year. However, combined imports during the initial eleven month period in 2016 were down considerably when matched with the corresponding period in 2015.

According to data, India imported 482,000 tons of scrap during Nov ’16, significantly higher by 26.7% when matched with the prior month. The scrap imports had totaled 381,000 tons in October last year. The Nov ’16 imports also hit the highest level since June ’16. The largest scrap exporter to India during the month was the UAE. The scrap imports from the UAE declined by 9% year-on-year to total 81,000 tons. The second largest supplier was the UK with 65,000 tons. The imports from the country declined sharply by nearly 28% over the previous year. The cumulative scrap imports by India during the first eleven months of 2016 totaled 5.748 million tons. The monthly imports averaged at around 523,000 tons. Going by the current rate, India’s annual scrap imports are likely to total around 6.3 million tons in 2016.

Imports-Oct ‘16

India imported 381,000 tons of scrap steel during the month of September this year. The imports climbed higher by 12.4% when matched with the previous month. The country had imported 3339,000 tons of scrap steel during September 2016. When compared with the year before, the September ’16 imports were down sharply by 31.2%. The country’s ferrous scrap imports had totaled 554,000 tons during September 2015.

Imports-Sep ‘16

India imported 338,696 tons of scrap steel during the month of September last year. The imports were down by 11.1% when matched with the previous month. The country had imported 381,095 tons of scrap steel during August 2016. When compared with the year before, the September ’16 imports were down sharply by 34.0%. The country’s ferrous scrap imports had totaled 513,176 tons during September 2015.

The largest exporter of ferrous scrap to India during September last year was the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The imports from the UAE totaled 57,811 tons, accounting for more than 17% of the total scrap imports by India during the month. The imports from the country witnessed nearly 9% decline from the previous month imports of 63,254 tons. The UK was the second largest exporter during the month, with 52,580 tons. The ferrous scrap imports from the UK surged higher by more than 21% over the previous month. The other key exporters of ferrous scrap to India during the month were Malaysia (20,094 tons), Singapore (17,802 tons), South Africa (15,471 tons), Thailand (15,262 tons) and Belgium (11,573 tons).

Meantime, the draft National Steel Policy (NSP) recently released by the Indian Ministry of Steel proposes to promote scrap-based steelmaking technologies. As part of this initiative, the Ministry has already started examining the feasibility of setting up scrap-based steel plants in India, capable of producing high-quality steel in environment-friendly, energy-efficient and cost-effective manner. Incidentally, India is world’s second largest scrap importer next to Turkey. The country imports approximately 6 million tonnes of scrap steel every year.