The government’s series of initiatives to rein in rising imports have started bearing fruits as India became a net exporter of steel in January with exports of 0.9 MT vis-à-vis imports of 0.6 MT, Joint Plant Committee (JPC) data showed. However, for the April-January period of the current fiscal, India’s status as a net importer of steel did not change. During the 10-month period, India imported 6.1 MT steel against the total exports of 5.87 MT.
While the growth in exports during the April-January period was a phenomenal 71.1%, imports fell by 37.8% during the period.
If the current trend persist in February and March, India may well become a net importer in the current fiscal itself.
India had been a net importer of steel in all the last five years barring in 2013-14. The gap between imports and exports was on the rise in the last two years.
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It touched a record 7.7 MT in the last fiscal when India imported 11.7 MT steel while exports languished at a mere 4 MT.
Trends took a U-turn as the government tightened imports by putting a minimum import price (MIP) on various products in February and then levying anti-dumping and safeguard duties in its effort to protect the interest of the domestic industry, which was plagued by the rising imports and anaemic demand.
However, India’s steel consumption has been subdued so far. It grew by just 3.5% during the April-January period at 68.89 MT while crude steel production during the period grew by a whopping 9%.
Steel production in India was the highest among major producing nations.