Posted on 15 Jan 2019
Indian semi-finished product exports, the majority of which were mild steel billet, slumped -58.3% on-year in October 2018 to 139,169 tonnes, according to Indian commerce ministry data monitored by Kallanish.
This came despite a 16% growth in shipments to Nepal to 107,159t, and deliveries of 16,769t to Italy versus zero in the year-earlier period. The drop occurred due mainly to a -92% slump in supplies to Indonesia to 6,355t and exports to the Philippines dropping to only 248t compared to 93,089t a year before.
In January-October Indian semis exports nevertheless still rose 3.4% on-year to 2.06 million tonnes. Nepal was by far the largest market, taking in almost half of this tonnage, while the Philippines and Thailand came second and third respectively.
Indian hot rolled flat products exports, meanwhile, fell -14% in October to 250,459t (see Kallanish passim).