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India continued to be a net importer of steel in November, for the second consecutive month this fiscal, with imports at 600,000 tonnes, indicative of a global slowdown in metal cycle and consistent pressure on price of domestic offerings.
Imports exceeded export of finished steel by 262,000 tonnes and rose 92 per cent on y-o-y basis, a report by the Steel Ministry, which was accessed by businessline, said. Exports for November were at 338,000 tonnes.
Finished steel include non-alloyed and alloyed and stainless steel offerings.
This is the third month for the fiscal – after July and October – when India turned net importer of finished steel.
On a month-on-month basis, imports saw a jump of over one per cent. In October, shipments were at 593,000 tonnes.
“Domestic prices were higher than landed price of imported offerings as many traders started looking at imports. Moreover, some previous orders are coming in leading to shoring-up of shipments coming in. Most of these were booked earlier in the year and are now coming in. At the same time, Indian exports dried up because of global slowdown and the export duty making steel sold overseas costlier,” an exporter said.
India removed duty on exports from November 19 (after it was imposed in May-end). But since it came “quite late in the month” there was no significant improvement in sentiments or export orders, those aware of the development said.
However, for the eight-month period (April - Nov) India remained a net exporter of steel. Imports were at 37,51,000 tonnes versus exports which stood at 42,99,000 tonnes.
Category wise break-up
According to the Ministry report, non-alloyed steel imports in November witnessed 113 per cent rise to 391,000 tonnes (vs 184,000 tonnes). The segment accounted for 65 per cent of the shipments coming in.
Non–alloyed steel is the prime export offering from India but the downstream industries are relying on imports which include cold rolled and coated offerings.
On the other hand, alloyed and stainless steel offerings saw a 64 per cent rise y-o-y during November to 210,000 tonnes (vs 128,000 tonne).
In case of a month-on-month comparison, non-alloyed steel imports witnessed a 7.5 per cent rise; while alloyed offerings saw a 9 per cent drop.
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