India's steel exports rise three-fold in January 2017

The Dollar Business Bureau

India's steel exports in January 2017 stood at 0.889 million tonnes (mt), which is three times higher than January 2016 exports of 0.274 mt. In the period April-January of the fiscal year 2016-17, steel exports have been valued at 5.865 mt, registering a growth of 71%.

The 224% increase in January exports of steel is commendable. This huge improvement comes amid earnest efforts by the government to protect local steel manufacturers from dumping by neighbouring country China. Imposition of anti-dumping duty on steel has been a decisive move in this direction. The Ministry of Steel is also intent on fostering local steel production, as demonstrated by its ambitious goal of taking annual indigenous steel capacity to 300 mt by fiscal 2030-31, from 122 mt in 2015-16.

During the first ten months of 2016-17, the import of finished steel has also significantly declined to 6.097 mt, down 37.8% from the corresponding period last year. In the month of January, inports were 41.7% down from January 2016, and a 21% less than imports in December 2016.  

India's year-on-year growth in consumption of finished steel also saw a 3.5% increase. During the April-January period of the current fiscal, the total finished steel consumption stood at 68.892 mt.

For crude steel, the production in April-January 2016-17 is 80.716 mt, up 9% year on year. Production of crude steel in January 2017 has been 8.367 mt, which is 11.5% greater than last January, but 0.4% less than the December 2016 production.

SAIL, Tata Steel, Essar, JSW Steel, RINL, JSPL, the major steel producing companies of India, have together achieved a 16.4% year on year growth with 45.18 mt of production during April-January 2016-17.