Posted on 08 Apr 2016
Steel imports accounted for 14 percent of the country’s total consumption, which rose by 4.3 percent in the last fiscal, a development that does not bode well for the domestic producers of the metal.
Moreover, after registering four consecutive months of decline, steel imports rose by over 18 percent in March as against last year, latest data by Steel Ministry’s Joint Plant Committee (JPC) showed.
India’s consumption of total finished steel saw a growth of 4.3 percent in 2015-16 to 80.273 million tonnes (MT) as against 77 MT in the previous fiscal, it added.
“Such growth was mostly led by imports, which accounted for 14 percent in total steel consumed by the country during the year, given that production for sale was down by 1.1 percent during this period,” JPC said.
India remained a net importer of steel in 2015-16 fiscal with inbound shipments growing by 20.2 percent to 11.21 MT against 9.32 MT in 2014-15.
Domestic steel consumption in March stood at 7.31 MT, a growth of 3.7 percent compared with February and 1.4 percent compared to March last year.
Exports were also a sad story with the outbound shipments declining by 32 percent in 2015-16 to 3.81 MT compared to 5.59 MT in 2014-15.
Exports in March increased by 17.1 percent to 0.35 MT compared with February but decreased by 32.4 percent compared to March last year.
During 2015-16, India’s crude steel production rose by 0.4 percent to 89.32 MT compared with 88.98 MT in 2014-15.
