India's scrap steel imports surged in July

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The scrap steel imports by India during the month of July this year increased sharply when compared with same month the previous year. However, the imports dropped when matched with a month ago. The cumulative imports during the initial seven-month period of the year were up significantly, according to government data released yesterday.

According to trade data, India’s scrap imports totaled 586,000 tons in July ‘15. This is down by 9.1% when compared with the imports during the month before. The country’s scrap imports had totaled 645,000 tons during June this year. Year-on-year, scrap steel imports by the country have surged higher by 10.7% in July this year. India’s scrap steel imports had totaled 529,000 tons during July 2014.

During July ‘15, the US was the main exporter of scrap to India. The scrap imports from the US totaled 91,000 tons, accounting for nearly 16% of the total imports by India during the month. The scrap imports from the US during July this year surged higher by 105.3% when compared with the same month in previous year.

The second largest source of scrap imports by India was the UAE. The scrap imports from the UAE during the month totaled 76,000 tons, up marginally by over 3.2% when compared with the previous year. The scrap imports from the UAE constituted nearly 13% of the total Indian imports during July ‘15.

South Africa was the third largest ferrous scrap exporter to India during the month. The scrap imports from the country dropped significantly by 14.50% during the month. South Africa exported 66,000 tons of scrap into India during July ‘15.

The cumulative scrap imports by the country during the initial seven-month period of the year totaled 3.754 million tons, significantly higher by 26.5% when compared with the imports during the corresponding period last year.

The annual scrap imports by the country during entire 2015 are projected at around 6.40 million tons.