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After a bull run in FY22, steel exports from India are now witnessing a pronounced drop, owing to global recessionary pressures, slower orders from key markets and competitive pricing. Exports declined 22 per cent y-o-y in April, and for the second month since March, when finished steel exports were down 8 per cent y-o-y.
India exported 743,000 tonnes of finished steel last month compared to 952,000 tonnes in the year-ago period. In FY22, exports were up 25 per cent y-o-y to 13.5 million tonnes (mt). There was a 12 to 42 per cent drop in orders last month from countries such as Turkey, Belgium and Nepal, show Steel Ministry data, accessed by BusinessLine.
However, price commanded by Indian mills were up at around 27 per cent y-o-y.
Slowdown in key markets
During April, exports to Belgium fell 42 per cent y-o-y to 76,900 tonnes; followed by Turkey, down 18 per cent, to 87,400 tonne. Nepal saw a near 12 per cent fall to 46,700 tonnes. Other major geographies put together, Indian mills witnessed a 29 per cent decline to 334,000 tonnes, the data show.
Italy was the top export destination in April, at about 130,500 tonnes, up 3.7 per cent; while Vietnam — India’s largest steel buyer in FY22 — was the fourth largest market at 67,000 tonne.
Indian offers in the Vietnamese market have slowed down for two months now as prices in the region were lower, say mill owners .“There is some slowdown in Vietnam, Turkey. Steel prices and demand in Vietnam are down because of which exports orders continue to be slow. As China opens up, hopefully orders will improve,” a trade source said.
Additionally, steel demand slowed in Europe, too, last month, and cheaper offers from select geographies weighed-in on Indian exports.
Product categories
Typically, Indian finished steel exports include flat products and non-flat ones along with alloys and non-alloys.
According to the data, 80 per cent of exports were flat products, which dropped by 18 per cent y-o-y in April, to 594,000 tonnes; alloys’ export, too, dropped 8 per cent to 69,200 tonnes. Amongst the flat products, hot rolled coils/strip exports fell over 14 per cent while galvanised sheet and coil exports dropped over 20 per cent.
Finished steel production rose by around 1 per cent y-o-y to 9.38 mt while consumption increased by 1 per cent to over 9 mt.
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