Korea, India’s top steel exporter, overtakes China

The Dollar Business Bureau

South Korea has become the biggest steel products exporter to India, overtaking China, in the Q1 of the current fiscal, after trailing with India’s neighbour for the past two fiscals.

Korea shipped around 5.11 lakh tonnes of steel products to India, slightly more than the 5.10 lakh tonnes exported by China, during the quarter of April-June 2016-17, as highlighted by the data presented by Vishnu Deo Sai, Minister of State for Steel, in a written response to the Upper House.

Japan is in the third position, after China, with 3 lakh tonnes of exports and Russia with 1.70 lakh tonnes, it added.

As per the presented data, the four countries collectively accounted for over three-fourths of overall steel (14.18 lakh tonnes) exported to the country during the given quarter. In Q1 of this fiscal, the total steel imported by India stood at 18.32 lakh tonnes.

In the last fiscal of 2015-16, China shipped 41.25 lakh tonnes of steel, followed by South Korea with 30.07 lakh tonnes, Japan with 21.60 lakh tonnes and Russia 3.64 lakh tonnes.

In 2014-15, China was the largest exporter, shipping around 36 lakh tonnes of steel, followed by South Korea (18.75 lakh tonnes), Japan (15.83 lakh tonnes) and Russia (2.26 lakh tonnes).
Similarly, in 2012-14 fiscal, China again was the topmost exporter with 10.88 lakh tonnes steel shipped to India. It was followed by 13.56 lakh tonnes by Japan, 13.13 lakh tonnes by Korea and 1.46 lakh tonnes by Russia, the data revealed.

In a separate question regarding government's plans to establish steel plants, Sai said that the government is not planning to establish steel plants.

As steel is a deregulated sector in India, the government’s role is only of a facilitator for the growth of steel sector, he added.