Posted on 07 Apr 2016
After 4-month fall, steel imports surge in March
Steel imports rose 18 per cent in March,
snapping four straight months of falls, provisional government data
showed, on the back of deals struck before the government imposed a
floor price in February to curb cheap imports.
Last week, the government extended safeguard taxes on some products
until March 2018, and in February imposed a floor price on import to
deter countries such as China from undercutting local mills, the first
such move in 15 years.
India, third-largest steel producer in the world, imported 994,000
tonnes last month, 18 per cent higher than the corresponding month a
year earlier, data from the Joint Plant Committee of the steel ministry
showed.
"Some steel could have been booked in January and February. This is
probably what has arrived in March, imports are likely to decline again
in April and May said Goutam Chakraborty, analyst at Emkay Global
Financial
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"Imports are likely to decline again in April and May," Chakraborty added.
Imports rose 20.2 per cent in the financial year ended March, compared with the same period a year before, the data showed.
Imports were up 9.1 per cent compared with February. Domestic steel
makers, including JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Kalyani Steels have lobbied
the government for more protectionist measures as their margins have
taken a hit due to overseas purchases from China, Russia, Japan and
South Korea.
Consumption of steel, in the only major market where steel demand is
growing, rose 4.3 per cent between April 2015 and March 2016, largely
driven by imports.
Steel exports by fell 32.4 per cent at a time when the US has named
India among countries that violated anti-dumping law on cold rolled flat
products and slapped a tax.
