The steel imports surged by 40% to 3.354 Million Tonnes (MT) during April -August period of current fiscal due to increased demand from sectors including automobiles and consumer durables. Joint Plant Committee (JPC) of the Steel Ministry said “demand remains firm with sectors like consumer durables, machinery and equipment, electricity and motor vehicles. The present import growth may well be due to the combined demand momentum provided by these sectors”.
China is the largest exporter for steel with a share of 24% of the total imports at 0.809 MT followed by South Korea at 0.657 MT, Japan at 0.528 MT, Ukraine at 0.188 MT and Germany at 0.140 MT, respectively.
JPC added that policy provisions associated to concessional import duty to items from South Korea and Japan under Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is also instrumental in a significant growth in imports from these nations, at present in decline mode with supply exceeding demand. Price concern is another key factor influencing trends in imports with the comparative strength in domestic prices in relation to import prices.