Indian Steel Ministry Posted 28% Surge in Steel Imports

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The total steel imports by the country surged higher by nearly 28% in August this year, says Indian Steel Ministry data.

As per data, the country imported 856,000t of steel during the month, which is significantly higher by 27.5% compared with the previous year.

The largest steel exporter to India during the month was South Korea. The imports from that country were up sharply by 35% year-on-year to total 318,000t, thereby accounting for over 37% of the total monthly imports by India. The imports from Indonesia totalled 143,000t. In third place was Japan, who exported 137,800t of steel products to India. The Japanese supplies to India skyrocketed by 43% from the year before.

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The Ministry data indicates that the above three countries made up nearly 70% of India’s total steel receipts in August 2019. The imports from these countries flourished mainly because long and flat steel imports from these countries are exempt from customs duties, on account of free-trade agreements with them.

Meantime, the steel imports from China recorded sharp decline by 8.2% to total 129,100t in August this year.

Recent import trends suggest that most of the imports by India are likely stainless steel products. Incidentally, Indonesia has been a major supplier of stainless steel products to India over the past few months.

Now onwards, the Steel Ministry is likely to have better control on imports into the country, by keeping track of information uploaded in the newly launched Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) by the Commerce Ministry.